The DPAC Insider Perspective
What is the National Institutes of Health and why should you care about it?
Simple: this research agency helps people with diabetes.
Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, it's part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It's been around in one form or another since 1798, when a single lab (Laboratory of Hygiene) was created as part of the Marine Hospital Service. It's grown into the largest biomedical research agency in the world with 27 different Institutes and Centers, each focused on a particular disease or system of the body.
300 Acres, 75 Buildings, One Mission
The overarching mission for the NIH is this:
...to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability.
NIDDK
The three hundred acre NIH campus (and seventy-five buildings) includes an important center for people with diabetes: the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). This institute is tasked with research funding, support, and information sharing. A comprehensive resource is produced by the NIDDK on diabetes, found here.The NIDDK also conducts clinical trials helping all people with diabetes. (Which is why if you can, you should see if you are eligible to participate.) Those clinical trials are found at www.clinicaltrials.gov.
Special Diabetes Program (SDP)
Those who receive information on diabetes advocacy issues will often hear about the need for us to share our support for the SDP to Congress. The Special Diabetes Program (Special Statutory Funding Program for Type 1 Diabetes Research) is a special appropriation dedicated to supporting research on the prevention, treatment, and cure of type 1 diabetes and its complications. It must be renewed every few years and it is crucial to the Type 1 diabetes community (and to the wider diabetes community at large, as research can uncover insights in other types of diabetes).If you are curious to learn why the SDP is important, look no further than Dr. Rodger's testimony given on July 30, 2015 before the Senate Special Committee on Aging.Want to know how much funding is budgeted to particular diseases? Well, here's the comprehensive list. In 2015, diabetes funding for clinical research was $1.011 billion and in 2017, that funding is expected to rise to $1.044 million.
What does SDP Funding do?
Have you heard of the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT)? It changed daily diabetes management for millions of people with Type 1 diabetes, proving that more intensive control can reduce complications. That was done with NIH funding.[caption id="attachment_781" align="alignright" width="200"]
TrialNet is funded by the NIH.[/caption]They are currently funding projects that include:
- autoimmune attacks,
- beta cell preservation and regeneration
- artificial pancreas technology
- preventing and treating diabetes complications
These research projects bring us closer to a cure, and in the meantime, living well with diabetes.
Why is the NIH Important for Diabetes Advocacy?
Without clinical trials and a trusted source of information for diabetes, the likelihood of advances in both technology and treatment (and a possible cure), is not attainable. Appropriations for diabetes research funding and the SDP are made through Congress, so it is up to our community and our advocates to raise our voices in support of the NIH and funding.DPAC will be sharing links when the SDP funding comes up in future congressional sessions, so stay in the loop by joining as a DPAC Insider today.