World Diabetes Foundation is one of the official sponsors of the NCDs track at UNLEASH 2022
This year, UNLEASH is expanding its focus on health, and has established a specific track on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in the Global Innovation Lab in India, so that young participants can come together and share insights based on their deep understanding of the topic, as well as have more targeted opportunities of further collaboration.
The UNLEASH Global Innovation Lab brings together 1,000 young participants from around the world to collaborate on ideas and solutions for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNLEASH started in Denmark in 2017 and moved to Singapore in 2018 and Shenzhen, China, in 2019. During COVID-19, UNLEASH launched a series of digital activities to continue to build capacity among global youth and launch SDG-solutions amidst the pandemic.
More than 41 million people die annually as a result of NCDs, equivalent to 71% of all deaths globally (1). Diabetes in particular is hitting low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) the hardest (2), where nearly 350 million people live with the disease. That number is expected to grow to 450 million by 2030, putting immense pressure on healthcare workers and healthcare systems (3).
Through the UNLEASH Global Innovation Lab in India, talented youth can spark and accelerate sustainable change and innovation for health challenges in India and beyond through a dedicated NCDs track. The NCDs track has been developed in close collaboration with the World Diabetes Foundation, a long-term partner of UNLEASH.
“The World Diabetes Foundation sponsored the health track at the UNLEASH Lab in Singapore in 2018. We are pleased to meet again, this time in India, where the need to address NCDs is truly pressing,” says Anil Kapur, Chairman of the Board of the World Diabetes Foundation.
The World Diabetes Foundation has provided insights and direction on the challenges of NCDs that UNLEASH Talents will address during the Global Innovation Lab. To ensure that teams have the right support when they work on their solutions, they will provide content specialists who can be consulted throughout the week. The panel of judges of the Health track will also include World Diabetes Foundation representatives, amongst others.
Applications for the Global Innovation Lab in India are now open! You can apply here.
About the World Diabetes Foundation
The World Diabetes Foundation is a leading global funder of diabetes prevention and care projects in low- and middle-income countries. Our vision is to alleviate human suffering related to diabetes among those in greatest need. We pursue sustainable, scalable approaches, helping countries meet global goals for improved care of diabetes and other non-communicable diseases.
Since 2002, the World Diabetes Foundation has provided 182 million EUR in funding to 584 partnership projects in 119 countries. For every euro of WDF funding provided, about 2 euros in cash or in-kind donations are contributed to the supported projects from other sources. To learn more, visit www.worlddiabetesfoundation.org