Abbott and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) has announced the launch of their first joint community health partnership. The program seeks to better understand and address healthcare disparities for people of color living with diabetes, while fostering accessibility of diabetes care technology within the community.
The community initiative, which is the first program under the ADA's Health Equity Now platform1, will launch in Columbus, Ohio, and be conducted in partnership with the National Center for Urban Solutions (NCUS), a Columbus-based organization focused on providing solutions in workforce development, education and wellness.
As part of the program, NCUS will provide up to 150 Black adults living with diabetes in the Columbus community with health education and access to Abbott's FreeStyle Libre flash glucose monitoring technology. By removing existing barriers to tools and technology, the program aims to demonstrate how continuous glucose monitoring can help improve diabetes management and quality of life for Black people living with diabetes in the Columbus community.
Black Americans are 60% more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes2 and much less likely to have their condition well managed, largely because care can be cost prohibitive. Further, Black Americans are at the most pronounced disadvantage when it comes to access to continuous glucose monitoring3. The project was established, in part, to create awareness of healthcare disparities and find holistic solutions to drive improved health outcomes.
ADA's Health Equity Now platform aims to ensure that the more than 122 million Americans living with diabetes and prediabetes2, along with millions more at risk for diabetes, have equal access to health resources in cost, care, cure, community and cuisine that can create a future without unjust health disparities.
