Novo Nordisk Education Foundation Unveils First-year Report Of Impact India: 1000-day Challenge

In the run-up to World Diabetes Day, the Novo Nordisk Education Foundation today unveiled the first-year report of their 'Impact India: 1000-Day Challenge' programme. The program was launched a year ago, to address the issue of suboptimally controlled diabetes in India. The Year One report was launched in the presence of Mr. Melvin D’Souza, Managing Trustee, Novo Nordisk Education Foundation, Mr. H.E. Freddy Svane, Ambassador of Denmark to India, Prof. Dr. Nikhil Tandon, Professor and Head, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, AIIMS, New Delhi and Prof. Dr. A.K. Das, Professor and Head, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Puducherry and Patron of the Impact India programme. The ambition of the programme is to reduce the national average  HbA1c by 1%, which can help reduce the risk of diabetes-related complications significantly in India.

iDCI® (Indian Diabetes Care Index) was introduced in 2018 as part of the programme to improve diabetes care in the country. Based on big data analytics, iDCI® has been providing a real-time view of the average HbA1c in India, a key indicator of the state of diabetes control across select cities.  Under the Impact India programme, digital platforms are being leveraged to partner with practitioners (doctors and paramedics) to evolve and implement an approach to diabetes care appropriate to India. iDCI® is a dynamic tool that not only tracks the status of diabetes care but also helps to increase awareness, motivate and sensitise healthcare professionals (HCPs) and society.

Certain cities have shown a dip in the HbA1c levels. Visakhapatnam in South India, Kolkata in the Eastern region, Varanasi in the North zone and Pune in the Western region are the top cities which have shown a decrease in HbA1c levels. 

• Southern regions are doing well in terms of diabetes control. As observed in iDCI®, a reduction in HbA1c over the last year is seen in Visakhapatnam, Ernakulam, Bengaluru and Chennai.
• Key statistics over 1 year period from Oct 2018 to Sep 2019 -  Visakhapatnam - 9.16 to 8.91 (down by 0.25); Ernakulam - 8.38 to 8.17 (down by 0.21); Bengaluru - 8.45 to 8.39 (down by 0.06); Chennai - 8.33 to 8.25 (down by 0.08)
• Barring Varanasi where the HbA1c levels dipped from 8.50 to 8.45 (down by 0.05) in the 12 month period, majority of the northern Indian cities like Delhi, Lucknow, Chandigarh etc. have seen an increase in HbA1c levels
• Key statistics over 1 year period from Oct 2018 to Sep 2019- Chandigarh - 7.87 to 7.88 (increase by 0.01), Lucknow 8.25 to 8.45 (increase by 0.02), Delhi - 8.58 to 8.76 (up by 0.18)
• In the Eastern region, Kolkata has shown a dip in the HbA1c levels from 8.26 to 8.02 (down by 0.24) in the 12 month period, while Guwahati has seen an increase from 8.62 to 8.80  in the same period
• Pune in Western India has noted a dip from 8.15 to 8.13 (down by 0.02) in the 12 month period and Mumbai has seen an increase from 8.10 to 8.25 (up by 0.15) in the same period.

The annual iDCI® booklet carrying details of the progress made across 19 key cities in the past 12 months, was unveiled by the dignitaries present at the event.

Speaking about the scientific approach, Dr. A.K. Das, Professor and Head, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences and Patron of the Impact India programme, shared, “Impact India is working towards creating awareness on the ‘Indian Reality’ of diabetes management and is focused on evolving a treatment approach more suitable to India. In Year One, we organised four advisory boards with 60 advisors (IMPACT Leaders) to develop and validate the scientific framework. Once validated, it was shared with 500 doctors (IMPACT Ambassadors) as a part of our train-the-trainer approach and is now being further cascaded. Overall 3311 doctors have been reached through 180 Impact Workshops across 153 cities and towns in India during phase one. We are confident that our efforts will reap encouraging results over the coming years ”.