A global coalition of 51 experts from 27 countries, chaired by K.M. Venkat Narayan, MD, MSC, MBA, executive director of the Emory Global Diabetes Research Center (EGDRC), recently released the Copenhagen Declaration for Diabetes, a bold framework to revolutionize diabetes care and research worldwide. Funded and supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the Declaration is the result of a year-long collaboration under the Global Diabetes Forum (GDF), an inclusive initiative spanning both high-income countries (HICs) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
“Diabetes is one of the most urgent public health challenges of our time, yet the global response has been fragmented. The Copenhagen Declaration is a science-driven call to action to strengthen care, expand research, and improve outcomes for millions of people worldwide,” said Dr. Narayan.
Diabetes affects 828 million people globally, with 85% of the burden falling on LMICs. Three countries, India (213 million), China (143 million), and the U.S. (42 million) represent the largest populations living with diabetes. Yet despite the scale of this epidemic, half of all people with diabetes remain untreated, with even higher rates of unmet need in LMICs.
“The odds that a 20-year-old today in urban India will develop diabetes in their lifetime are approaching 80%. That’s not just a statistic; it’s a wake-up call. We need global strategies that match the scale of this crisis,” said Nikhil Tandon, PhD, head of the department of endocrinology and metabolism at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
While mortality and complication rates are declining in high-income countries due to improved care, these advances have not translated equitably to LMICs. Moreover, non-European populations bear 85% of the global diabetes burden but are the focus of only 3–4% of global research activity, highlighting stark disparities in investment and innovation.
“Most of the world’s diabetes burden exists in low- and middle-income countries, yet nearly all the research happens in high-income settings. The Copenhagen Declaration is about realigning global priorities to where the need is greatest,” said Nancy Kunyiha, MBCHB, FRCP, physician endocrinologist at Uzwena Health and Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at Aga Khan University Hospital, Kenya.
The Copenhagen Declaration outlines four urgent strategies to close these gaps and accelerate progress:
- Leverage emerging knowledge on diabetes heterogeneity, advanced diagnostics, and novel therapeutics
- Strengthen health systems with scalable, affordable, multidisciplinary care models tailored to local needs
- Ensure equitable access to innovative treatments and digital health technologies
- Foster global research collaborations to bridge critical knowledge gaps, especially in underserved populations
“We can no longer afford to treat diabetes as a series of isolated problems. The Declaration calls for global knowledge sharing, smarter investments in care, and a shift toward equity in treatment and innovation,” said Marie-Louise Hartoft-Nielsen, MD, PhD, Vice President and head of Clinical Medicine at the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Denmark.
To provide feedback to the Declaration, contact: copenhagen.declaration@emory.edu
The Global Diabetes Forum
The Global Diabetes Forum brings together 51 leading diabetes experts from 27 countries who participated in a year-long effort to create a visionary roadmap for improving diabetes prevention and care worldwide. Their discussions culminated in the Copenhagen Declaration, a document that outlines key strategies for advancing global diabetes efforts. The Forum is chaired by Dr. K.M. Venkat Narayan of Emory University and is supported and funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.