# WHO pilot project to improve access to insulin
**URL:** https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/who-pilot-project-to-improve-access-to-insulin/9334
**Category:** D-News
**Tags:** insulin
**Created:** [February 17, 2020, 4:08pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/who-pilot-project-to-improve-access-to-insulin/9334 "2020-02-17T16:08:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CatLady](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/CatLady)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2020, 4:08pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/who-pilot-project-to-improve-access-to-insulin/9334/1 "2020-02-17T16:08:16Z")
> **[The WHO Knows Insulin Is Too Expensive. How It Plans To Drive Down The Price](https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/17/803762187/the-who-knows-insulin-is-too-expensive-how-it-plans-to-drive-down-the-price)**
>
> Globally, half of the estimated 100 million people who are in need of insulin do not have reliable access. The World Health Organization hopes a "prequalification" program will help.
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### Author:  [@Chris](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Chris)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2020, 4:51pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/who-pilot-project-to-improve-access-to-insulin/9334/2 "2020-02-17T16:51:05Z")
I hope they are successful. I am not optimistic, but hopeful. Someone in the distribution chain will figure out if they create shortages they can profit…
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### Author:  [@Carol](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Carol)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2020, 1:53am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/who-pilot-project-to-improve-access-to-insulin/9334/3 "2020-02-19T01:53:36Z")
Agreed. I, too, hope they succeed in making insulin more affordable and available. 🌻
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### Author:  [@jbowler](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/jbowler)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2020, 3:29am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/who-pilot-project-to-improve-access-to-insulin/9334/4 "2020-02-19T03:29:05Z")
I just cut this out of the “Lancet” article (it actually seems to have been published in diabetoligia [I have asked the Lancet for clarification]) in the hope that it will help understanding, this is only a part of the issue but it is important to understand what the issue really is:
> Our work in Mozambique showed that 10% of the government expenditure on medications was being used on insulin [[15](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00125-010-1897-3?shared-article-renderer#ref-CR15), [16](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00125-010-1897-3?shared-article-renderer#ref-CR16)]. The most recent RAPIA by the IIF in Kyrgyzstan showed that 57% of national insulin expenditure (and 42% of the total budget for diabetes drugs and supplies) was for the purchase of costly newer analogue insulins [[18](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00125-010-1897-3?shared-article-renderer#ref-CR18)]: the cost of glargine, for example, was 13 times that of brandname isophane insulin. Data from other resource-poor areas of the world also suggests that expenditure on analogue insulin is financially significant, with the price of these insulins generally exceeding that of human insulin by a factor of three to five. The use of animal insulin, and its availability, is now negligible [[19](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00125-010-1897-3?shared-article-renderer#ref-CR19), [20](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00125-010-1897-3?shared-article-renderer#ref-CR20)].
I didn’t add any emphasis to that, I kindof assume people on this list can add emphasis as appropriate, but I will quote a part of the following paragraph:
> Another factor adding to insulin costs in many countries is the use of insulin pens rather than the traditional (and much cheaper) reusable syringes and needles.
The full article is [The insulin dilemma in resource-limited countries. A way forward? | Diabetologia](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00125-010-1897-3)
This isn’t about _our_ problem, it is about the problem that our shxt causes for everyone else trying to live on this planet.
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### Author:  [@jbowler](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/jbowler)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2020, 5:23pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/who-pilot-project-to-improve-access-to-insulin/9334/5 "2020-02-26T17:23:42Z")
> [@jbowler](#):
>
> [I have asked the Lancet for clarification]
Ella Burnham (from the Lancet editorial team) confirmed that the article NPR quoted is **not** from the Lancet, and pointed out that the Lancet web site can be readily searched (the Lancet is a “[delayed open access- journal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_open-access_journal)”).
Indeed, such a search immediately produces results including correspondence relating to US medical prices, such as this letter from members of T1International:
[https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(19)30260-8/fulltext](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(19)30260-8/fulltext)
The letter is from October 2019, but the authors seem to be trying to promote a study by T1International from 2018:
> **[T1International\_Report\_-\_Costs\_and\_Rationing\_of\_Insulin\_\_Diabetes\_Supplies\_2.pdf](https://www.t1international.com/media/assets/file/T1International_Report_-_Costs_and_Rationing_of_Insulin__Diabetes_Supplies_2.pdf)**
>
> 1122.45 KB
I don’t think that was peer reviewed, but it is directly relevant to the topic of the NPR article since it looks at international availability of insulin.
One priceless 😉 table is on page 6 of that PDF. It shows figures from the study for insulin rationing and compares high-income countries with low-and-middle-income countries. As you might expect insulin rationing is far more frequent in low-and-middle-income countries - **92.4%** of people from high-income countries stated they never had to ration insulin while only **72.2%** of people from low-and-middle-income countries said the same thing. That is, if you exclude the USA from **low** -income countries; only **70.7%** of people in the USA said they never had to ration.
Oops.