Life for a Child
About Life for a Child
In 1999, Maria de Alva, then President of the International Diabetes Federation, was appalled that children and young people were still dying from diabetes in under-resourced countries. She asked Professor Martin Silink AO to help establish a program specifically for them. He in turn enlisted the expertise of Dr. Graham Ogle, and Life for a Child was officially launched in 2000.
The team started small, identifying clinics in Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines and providing doctors with essential supplies to care for the young people they supported. The results were persuasive. Young people were not only surviving but thriving and quickly learning to manage their diabetes.
Over time, Life for a Child expanded to support more clinics around the world. As the program has grown, it has remained committed to its founding principle of working with established local health care providers to encourage long-term sustainability.
Today, Dr. Graham Ogle is Life for a Child’s General Manager. Life for a Child now supports more than 71,000 children and young people in 61 countries.
Life for a Child’s work on NCDs
Type 1 diabetes is a complex lifelong condition requiring daily insulin, blood glucose monitoring, education and appropriate health care. In the communities Life for a Child supports, access to affordable insulin and other essential supplies is often unreliable.
Life for a Child works with established clinics and hospitals, as well as some governments, to provide:
- Insulin and insulin pens
- Blood glucose monitoring equipment and strips;
- HbA1c and other diagnostic equipment;
- Diabetes education and resources for children, young people and families;
- Professional development, education and support for local health care professionals.
Life for a Child also undertakes research into the needs and lived experiences of children and young people with type 1 diabetes and uses this evidence to support advocacy. At community, national and international levels, we advocate for improved access to insulin and other essential aspects of diabetes care.
Life for a Child’s Vision 2030 is a ten-year plan to significantly increase the number of children and young people supported. By 2030, Life for a Child aims to support 100,000 children and young people across 65 countries. The plan includes building capacity in local clinics, improving access to essential supplies and care, training local health care professionals and providing culturally appropriate education materials. Life for a Child will also continue to develop evidence-based advocacy tools to encourage governments to provide sustainable diabetes care.
