Q&A: American Diabetes Association, Genentech partner to address inequities in eye care
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Key takeaways:
- A new partnership focuses on addressing eye care inequities among patients with diabetes.
- The first priority is learning about the barriers people with diabetes face in order to manage their eye health.
The American Diabetes Association and Genentech have partnered to reduce inequities in eye care treatment to help those with diabetes gain equal access to the care they need.
Access to screenings and eye exams is important to prevent and diagnose vision-threatening conditions caused by diabetes, yet many people, especially those in underrepresented communities, do not have access to these essential tools.
According to a press release from the ADA, the first step is a pilot program in Birmingham, Alabama. Community partners will conduct focus groups with African American residents to better understand the barriers to eye care that may exist in under-resourced communities, with the goal of providing resources such as education and screenings to address these issues.
Healio/OSN spoke with Charles D. Henderson, CEO of the American Diabetes Association, about how the partnership between the entities arose and the specific barriers to eye care that they plan to tackle together.
Healio/OSN: How did this partnership between the ADA and Genentech come about?
Henderson: This partnership brings together the American Diabetes Association’s and Genentech’s shared dedication to health equity and long-standing commitment to people living with diabetes-related eye disease. Genentech has been a pioneer in the field of research and development of treatments for conditions such as diabetic macular edema and diabetic retinopathy, which can cause visual impairment and blindness if left untreated.
The ADA’s focus on breaking barriers to eliminate health disparities in our country, through the ADA’s Health Equity Now initiative, has attracted dedicated partners that have a shared goal. Through this community-based program, we will identify the barriers to eye health, address those barriers, and support community awareness through screenings and education.
Healio/OSN: What are the main priorities for the partnership?
Henderson: Learning about the biggest barriers people living with diabetes face will be our main priority for the first phase of this program. We know that the lack of education on the dangers of not managing your eye health and having annual screenings is a barrier to care, but also community resources for things such as screenings can be lacking for many of the underserved groups.
African American, American Indian, Alaska Native and Hispanic/Latino patients are at higher risk of losing their vision or going blind from conditions such as diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular edema.
Comprehensive eye exams play a crucial role in the prevention, early detection and intervention of eye disease and vision loss caused by diabetes, yet many in these communities either do not receive or do not have appropriate access to eye health care. We are hoping to change that.
Healio/OSN: What are some of the end goals of this partnership?
Henderson: Our shared goal is to empower people with diabetes to effectively manage their eye health by identifying and removing barriers to eye care that can save their vision. Diabetic eye disease is a leading cause of vision impairment, but it is preventable. Early detection and treatment of diabetic eye disease can reduce severe vision loss by 94%. Unfortunately, there are disparities in how different populations receive diabetes-related eye care and treatment. That is why programs like this are so important, to help collectively address systemic inequities.
Healio/OSN: What are the next steps that Genentech and the ADA plan to take to reach these goals?
Henderson: After identifying what barriers exist, we will work to remove barriers with local health system partners.
Screening and education for awareness will be key components to address the overall needs of the community. The ADA and Genentech will use learnings from the Birmingham pilot to inform future work together.
We hope that this model can be expanded to additional communities across the country in the future.
Reference:
- The American Diabetes Association and Genentech partner to increase equitable access to eye health care. https://diabetes.org/newsroom/press-releases/2023/american-diabetes-association-genentech-partner-increase-equitable-access-eye-health-care. Published March 20, 2023. Accessed March 22, 2023.
For more information:
Charles D. Henderson, CEO of the American Diabetes Association, can be reached at chuck@diabetes.org.
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