Why do so many people lack access to healthcare?
Millions of people live with obesity, diabetes and other serious chronic diseases. We have effective treatments, but far too many people still can’t access them. Sometimes, medicine is too costly. Sometimes seeing a doctor or picking up a prescription means a long journey and a loss of wages. In extreme situations, there is no doctor to see, healthcare clinic to go to, or medicine on the shelf at the pharmacy.
Only a fraction of people are being treated today – and we need to close that gap so that people have affordable access to the medicines we make and the care they need.
The barriers are complex and differ by country and community, but we know from experience that improvement is possible.
Our ambition is to secure access to the medicines for people living with obesity, diabetes and other serious chronic diseases, while addressing varying levels of affordability and ensuring it creates a lasting impact.
The World Health Organization recommends the use of GLP-1 medicines as an essential part of addressing rising obesity and diabetes.1 Yet by 2030, only about 1 in 10 people who need obesity treatment will have access.2
Access should depend on medical need, not income, education or postcode.1 Today, people facing social and economic disadvantage are more likely to live with obesity and diabetes, and less likely to receive consistent care.1 That inequity must change and we have a role in closing this gap.
Real, sustainable access isn’t just about getting medicines to more patients; it requires working with partners to improve how care is funded, delivered and reimbursed. That’s why we are working with governments, health systems, payers, researchers, civil society organisations and people living with chronic disease to expand access to GLP-1 medicines in underserved communities.
We work with local partners to test new care models, generate real-world evidence and scale proven models to improve treatment pathways. Our focus is practical: understand what works, build the case for wider reimbursement, and support long-term adoption.
- Denmark: In a municipality where around 25% of residents live with obesity, we are testing funding and care models that combine treatment with lifestyle interventions. The goal is to inform future investment and reimbursement decisions.3
- Brazil: In collaboration with the public health system, which serves about 75% of the population, we are designing care pathways that can expand access within national reimbursement frameworks.4
- Fiji and the wider Pacific: In regions with some of the highest obesity rates globally, we are co-developing youth-focused models to address rising risks among adolescents and strengthen early intervention.5
Scientific progress only matters if it reaches people. By building evidence with partners and strengthening health systems locally, we work to turn innovation into equitable, lasting access at a global scale.
Insulin is a lifesaving but delicate molecule. Insulins are temperature sensitive and lose effectiveness over time or when exposed to too high or low temperatures.6,7
The storage instructions for insulin vary, but for most, the recommendation from the moment of manufacture up until the product is in-use to keep the insulin cool – at refrigerator temperatures around 2°C – 8°C range. In many low- and middle-income countries and humanitarian settings, temperatures often exceed this range, and refrigeration may not always be available, affordable, or reliable for people with diabetes.8
We sought to address this barrier by challenging and re-evaluating the thermal stability of our short-acting and intermediate-acting human insulin products. Both are widely used in low- and middle-income countries and humanitarian settings where revised storage guidance could reduce the burden of diabetes management and improve the lives of people with diabetes using the products.
Following the positive scientific opinion from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), we will seek national approvals of more flexible storage conditions in relevant low- and middle-income countries.
Improving access to insulin is a fundamental pillar of our Defeat Diabetes strategy. By definitively proving the thermostability of these products we hope to address a barrier faced by many vulnerable people with diabetes living in challenging settings.
Changing Diabetes® in Children has the ambition to reach 100,000 children with type 1 diabetes by 2030.
In the video above, you’ll meet Bilguissa, a type 1 superstar from Guinea. Bilguissa is part of a new generation of children and young adults living with type 1 diabetes in Guinea. With the support of doctors and nurses at the Changing Diabetes® in Children clinic, today she is a reflective community leader full of hope, capable of successfully managing her own diabetes, while guiding and inspiring her younger peers.
In low- and middle-income countries, we put extra focus on the most vulnerable people living with diabetes. In more than two-thirds of the countries where we operate, we have established affordability and access programmes to help patients in need.
These programmes are working to answer tough questions, like:
How do we encourage more patients to enroll in affordability programmes?
How do we design insulins that don’t require cooling and can therefore travel further?
How can we simplify medicine supply chains to drive down price?
We are working on these questions with a strong commitment to making insulin available to all. Read on and learn more about our commitment to affordable treatment and access to diabetes care.
We have made a commitment to continue to have a low-cost insulin in our product portfolio and produce and make human insulin available for years to come. This is our Access to Insulin Commitment.
With our new Defeat Diabetes strategy, we are lowering the ceiling price for low- and middle-income countries, and at the same time working to expand affordability programmes in the US and elsewhere in the world.
In 2001, we launched a ground breaking policy to lower the cost of human insulin in the most resource-constrained. Today, our policy covers a total of 77 countries, home to a third of the world’s diabetes population, as well as selected humanitarian organisations.
Our commitment builds on the following principles:
- We will continue to be the leading supplier of low-priced human insulin in the world.
- We will guarantee to provide low-priced human insulin in the poorest parts of the world for many years to come, including Least Developed Countries (LDCs) as defined by the UN, other low-income countries as defined by the World Bank and middle-income countries where large low-income populations lack sufficient health coverage, as well as selected humanitarian organisations where the commitment is global.
- We will guarantee a ceiling price of human insulin at USD 3.00 per vial.
- We will guarantee a ceiling price of human insulin at USD 2.00 per vial for organisations providing relief in humanitarian settings.
- We will address challenges in insulin distribution and healthcare capacity that often prevent low-cost insulin from reaching the most vulnerable people.
We recognise that it is not only low- and middle-income countries where affording healthcare is a challenge.
In the United States, some people living with diabetes are increasingly finding it hard to pay for their healthcare, including our diabetes medicines.
Ensuring access and affordability is a responsibility we share with all involved in healthcare and we are going to do our part.
We work closely with humanitarian actors such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Danish Red Cross to tackle health issues in humanitarian settings. We collaborate to solve the growing need for NCD treatment and prevention for people forced to flee their homes and communities. For example, through upgrading clinics in Lebanon and Syria to integrate NCD care and prevention activities in the local response.
These programmes build on almost a decade of collaboration with the Red Cross through Partnering for Change which expanded access to NCD care in crisis settings and generated critical evidence that helped elevate NCDs on the global humanitarian agenda.
Our humanitarian efforts also include the donation and shipment of insulin to our humanitarian partners to support patients with diabetes in emergencies.
Part of Novo Nordisk’s contribution to promoting access to care is our continued long-term financial commitment to the World Diabetes Foundation.
The World Diabetes Foundation was established by Novo Nordisk in 2002 as an independent trust dedicated to the prevention and treatment of diabetes in developing countries. The Foundation supports sustainable partnerships and acts as a catalyst to help others do more.
Our current commitment to the Foundation is DKK 1.69 billion (USD 277 million) covering the period up to 2024.
Watch the video above to learn more about the life-saving work driven by the World Diabetes Foundation.
In some countries, people living with haemophilia may be in a situation where they are not authorised to store their haemophilia medication at home. For example, during the COVID-19 crisis, they have not been able to visit hospitals to seek treatment.
When people living with a rare blood disease face these situations, we work with local health authorities and partner organisations to provide financial support for medicine and treatment home delivery.
To ensure clear and transparent relationships, our initiatives are designed in dialogue with policy makers, for support services related to patient training, delivery and medicine storage.
he Novo Nordisk Haemophilia & Haemoglobinopathies Foundation is a grant-making, non-profit organisation that strives to improve access to care for people with haemophilia and haemoglobinopathies in low- and middle-income countries.
- Over 10 million people worldwide live with haemophilia, sickle cell disease, or thalassaemia, with at least 80% residing in low- and middle-income countries.
- Individuals with these conditions face severe challenges that impact their health outcomes and quality of life.
Since 2005, the foundation has maintained a steadfast commitment to advancing haemophilia care, and as of December 2025, this mission has expanded to formally include haemoglobinopathies.
Through its proven, partnership-driven model for developing tailored programmes that address local needs, the NNHF strives to create lasting impact.
You can learn more about the Novo Nordisk Haemophilia & Haemoglobinopathies Foundation by visiting their website, where you will find out how the foundation is ‘Impacting care. Together’.
Celletti F, Farrar J, De Regil L. World Health Organization Guideline on the Use and Indications of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Therapies for the Treatment of Obesity in Adults. JAMA. Feb 3 2026;335(5):434–438. doi:10.1001/jama.2025.24288
World Health Organization. WHO guideline on the use of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) therapies for the treatment of obesity in adults. World Health Organization: Geneva, Switzerland. 2025;
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Cruz JAW, da Cunha M, de Moraes TP, et al. Brazilian private health system: history, scenarios, and trends. BMC Health Serv Res. Jan 10 2022;22(1):49. doi:10.1186/s12913-021-07376-2
Phelps NH, Singleton RK, Zhou B, et al. Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults. The Lancet. 2024;403(10431):1027–1050. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(23)02750-2
Huus K, Havelund S, Olsen HB, van de Weert M, Frokjaer S. Chemical and Thermal Stability of Insulin: Effects of Zinc and Ligand Binding to the Insulin Zinc-Hexamer. Pharmaceutical research. 2006;23(11):2611-2620.
Brange J, Andersen L, Laursen ED, Meyn G, Rasmussen E. Toward understanding insulin fibrillation. Journal of pharmaceutical sciences. 1997;86(5):517-525.
World Health Organization. Keeping the 100-year-old promise: making insulin access universal. Geneva: World Health Organization;2021.
