The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation's New Initiative Targets Type 2 Diabetes

More than 57 million Americans are pre-diabetic and are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The Bristol-Myers Foundation’s  new initiative called Together on Diabetes: Communities Uniting to Meet America’s Diabetes Challenge seeks to address the growing diabetes problem in America by helping patients living with type 2 diabetes better manage their disease beyond the doors of their doctor's office-in their homes and communities. With $100 million in funding, the effort is the largest corporate philanthropic commitment to fight type 2 diabetes in the United States. “Together on Diabetes will draw on the strengths of communities and support public and private sector partners coming together to identify and implement disease management approaches that work for large segments of the population,” says Lamberto Andreotti, chief executive officer, Bristol-Myers Squibb.

The initaitive’s first request for proposal focuses on African American women. African-American women represent one of the highest-risk groups of type 2 diabetes in terms of prevalence and disease burden; 1 in 10 black women age 20 and older has diabetes. The initiative will award five $300,000 grants for 2-year projects. The funds will support a 4-month planning phase and a 20-month implementation and evaluation phase for collaborative, community-based projects that serve a minimum of 150 African American women living with type 2 diabetes.


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