Sweet Life is awarded an international diabetes grant!

Panorama launches The T1D Community Fund, and announces first cohort of global grantees – Sweet Life Diabetes Community is one of them! Find out more about the work we’re going to do here.

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The T1D Community Fund

Global grantees

Sweet Life Diabetes Community is proud to be named a grantee partner of The T1D Community Fund.

The grant from The T1D Community Fund will enable us to build a diabetes map in South Africa of partners who are working in the diabetes space – and champions with lived experience. It also supports the many diabetes education projects we already run for people with Type 1, and the advocacy work we are engaging in every day.

Sweet Life is one of 16 organizations funded by The T1D Community Fund that are working to improve the lives of people with Type 1 diabetes worldwide. Learn more about The T1D Community Fund and the incredible work Sweet Life and our fellow grant recipients are doing at panoramaglobal.org/the-t1d-community-fund.

The vision of the T1D Community Fund

The Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) Community Fund, powered by Panorama Global, is investing in a future where people living with type 1 diabetes can lead healthy and fulfilling lives. The T1D Community Fund awarded two-year grants totaling $961,000 to 16 community-based organizations working across 14 countries in Africa, Latin America, Middle East and Central Asia, and South Asia. All grant recipients support people living with Type 1 diabetes gaining access to high-quality treatment or other forms of medical, social, economic, or emotional care.

Crucial gaps in access to key health services and supplies mean that Type 1 diabetes can be a fatal diagnosis for people in low- and middle-income countries — including children and young adults. Grant recipients like Ark Development Organization (Ghana), The Association for the Care of Diabetes in Argentina CUI.D.AR (Argentina), and Diyabetli Çocuklar Vakfi Diyaçev (Diabetic Children Foundation) (Turkey) are addressing gaps by promoting early detection, developing digital health tools, and providing livelihood training and support.

Community-based organisations around the world

With seed funding from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, The T1D Community Fund supports community- based organizations around the world that serve individuals and families impacted by Type 1 diabetes. By providing resources for Type 1 diabetes programs at the community level, this initiative aims to amplify the voices of people living with Type 1 diabetes and to inform more comprehensive, inclusive, and person-centered health systems.

We are committed to supporting the global Type 1 diabetes community and ensuring that people living with the condition have what they need to thrive, no matter where they live.

James Reid,
Type 1 Diabetes Program Officer at the Helmsley Charitable Trust.

“Investments in community-driven solutions to support people with Type 1 diabetes are critical to building resilient health systems for underserved populations in low-and middle- income countries, which is what sparked our interest in creating The T1D Community Fund through Panorama.”

Barriers to Type 1 diabetes care and treatment

Barriers to Type 1 diabetes care and treatment are complex, deeply rooted, and increasingly urgent as cases of diabetes climb sharply around the world. In low- and middle-income countries, these challenges are often exacerbated by broken supply chains that impede access to life-saving medicines and by health systems that are not equipped to provide holistic diabetes care.

Community-based organizations have unique insights into the challenges of existing health systems and barriers faced by people with Type 1 diabetes in these settings and are therefore well positioned to provide vital services and knowledge. Yet, their perspectives are often not included in national or global Type 1 diabetes planning. The T1D Community Fund will work with grant recipients to identify needs for additional capacity building and provide a platform to enable practitioners to connect and learn from peer organizations worldwide.

Our partnership with the Helmsley Charitable Trust is an example of meaningful efforts to close the gap in health disparities and improve the lives of those most impacted by Type 1 diabetes in local communities. We are thrilled to support organizations working on the frontlines to provide essential health services and related care for people with Type 1 diabetes.”b

Gabrielle Fitzgerald, Panorama’s Founder and CEO

About The T1D Community Fund

The T1D Community Fund supports community-based organizations working to improve the lives of people living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The T1D Community Fund is powered by Panorama Global—a social impact nonprofit that empowers changemakers through radical collaboration—with seed funding from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.

What to read next?

Sweet Life’s non-profit work: If you haven’t read our Annual Report yet, what are you waiting for?! If you’re just looking for the highlights, though – here’s our year in review.

The Type 1 Diabetes Guidebook – for parents. This practical, helpful guide was written to help parents whose children have just been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, packed with advice from other parents who understand.

Sweet Life’s Annual Reports: Sweet Life Diabetes Community is an NPO (220-984) / PBO and as such has a responsibility to publish annual reports with all the relevant information about our work over the last financial year.

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash.