Humble beginnings and pioneering efforts - WDF's impact on gestational diabetes in India

"We needed to understand the prevalence of diabetes during pregnancy and also use the opportunity to start initiatives with the public health system to try and address the testing of women during pregnancy."

Dr Anil Kapur, WDF's Chair of the Board.

WDF's gestational diabetes initiatives soon gained momentum with large-scale screening projects in China, India, South Africa and across several countries in Latin America. "Women living in urban settings in Chennai, South India diagnosed with gestational diabetes touched 17%, similar data was noted from studies in China," Dr Kapur continues. The results of these studies were instrumental in gaining momentum among policy makers at national and global levels and made it possible to attract additional funding from other donors.

WDF's HiP portfolio includes a total of 105 projects, with 22 ongoing HiP projects and 83 completed. The total contribution to HiP projects to date is 18.9 million USD. Across the 105 projects, 2.8 million women have been screened, 135,000 doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers have been trained in HiP care, and around 1.7 million women have received counselling or training in GDM care, nutrition, and healthy living.

To understand the impact of these numbers, we must explore what positive changes our GDM-related partnership projects have enabled. This impact deep dive will focus on India, one of the countries where GDM is hitting the hardest, showcasing how our support has had an impact at organisational, personal and policy levels in the country.