WHA 79: An Open Letter to the WHO

As the 79th World Health Assembly kicks off today, Voices In Action (VIA) Diabetes, together with 100 other organizations, sends the World Health Organization an Open Letter calling for immediate technical support to Member States to establish and strengthen legal and policy frameworks around the discrimination and stigmatization of diabetes.

Voices in Action (VIA) Diabetes, together with 100 other organizations, including Fórum Intersetorial de CCNTs no Brasil, ONG Santé Diabète, Diabetes UK, Parliamentarians for Diabetes Global Network, T1 International, DiaLeb, and Meethi Zindagi, today delivered an open letter to Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). The letter calls on the WHO to support countries in tackling diabetes-related discrimination and stigmatization.

More than 830 million people worldwide are currently living with diabetes. A majority will experience discrimination or stigma at some point in their lives, across healthcare systems, schools, workplaces, and society at large.

Building on the WHO’s global leadership on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including the Global Diabetes Compact, diabetes-related discrimination remains insufficiently addressed in many national legal frameworks.

These experiences take multiple forms:

• Employment discrimination: Denial of jobs, workplace accommodations, insurance, or promotion due to diabetes. In France, for instance, despite evolving legislation, people with insulin-treated diabetes still face refusals in sectors such as the military, aviation, or public safety. Similar exclusions persist in other countries, where individuals are deemed “unfit” based solely on their diagnosis.
• Healthcare stigma: People living with diabetes often face judgmental attitudes from healthcare providers, including the misconception that the condition results solely from lifestyle choices. In some settings, such as South Africa, insulin is reportedly used as a “threat”, reinforcing fear and misinformation.
• Insurance and financial discrimination: People with diabetes frequently face higher premiums or denial of insurance, loans, or mortgages. In some cases, people report losing employment or being forced to relocate after employers or insurers deem their condition “too expensive” (including in Hong Kong, for example).
• School stigma/discrimination: Children with diabetes may be denied safe and inclusive education, including refusal by staff to administer insulin or glucagon or restrictions on access to essential devices. In low-resource settings, a lack of trained personnel can even lead to children missing school. Fear of stigma also pushes many to hide their condition. This type of stigma, internalized at such a young age, has also led to disordered eating in places such as the United Kingdom.
• Social stigma: Stigma also manifests socially through blame, shame, and exclusion. In India, people with type 1 diabetes may face barriers to marriage, while in Mali, people report hiding their condition due to stigma and fear of being rejected by the family.

This should never happen.

On the occasion of the 79th World Health Assembly (WHA79), VIA encourages the WHO to further strengthen its leadership by issuing formal guidance on diabetes-related discrimination and supporting countries in adopting and implementing anti-discrimination laws.

Specifically, VIA invites the WHO to provide immediate technical support to Member States to establish and strengthen legal and policy frameworks that:

• ensure full implementation of existing international commitments on non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention, treatment, and care, with clear accountability mechanisms to monitor progress;
• establish robust legal protections that safeguard people living with diabetes and other chronic conditions against all forms of discrimination, exclusion, and stigma in healthcare, education, employment, and public life; and
• guarantee meaningful and structured participation of people living with NCDs and mental health conditions in health governance.

In a statement, VIA Co-Founder, Lucía Feito Allonca, said:

“End diabetes stigma with law, not just language: co-create binding protections with those who live it, and hold systems accountable until dignity is guaranteed everywhere.”

Shaina Kasper, Executive Director, T1International, added:

“Nothing about us without us’ must be more than a slogan: people living with diabetes must have a meaningful role in health governance. For those who depend on insulin to survive, participation is essential to building systems that ensure equitable access and affordability to essential medicines and supplies for all.”

Leading global diabetes advocate and VIA Member, Adrian Sanders, said:

“The voice of people with diabetes needs to be heard in order to guide decision making that can not only improve their lives but increase productivity and taxes while preventing further costs to Governments and health care systems from complications and through prevention where that is possible.”

Olivia Rafferty, VIA’s Content and Communications Lead, said:

“I was forced to leave the country I was living in—and my job—after my employer promised to support me with private insurance (in Hong Kong, where supplies are not supplied by the public health system), only to later say that my condition was ‘too expensive’. I felt abandoned and discriminated against because of my diabetes.”

The Letter is currently open for signature from organizations and individuals. Click here to add yours!

Click to read the letter in Kiswali, Urdu, Spanish, Arabic, French, Dutch, Slovak and Italian.