World Diabetes Day 2025: Empowering Patients Through Smarter Support
November 14 marks World Diabetes Day, an annual reminder of the growing global challenge posed by diabetes, one of the fastest-rising chronic conditions worldwide. According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), approximately 589 million adults aged 20 – 79 years are currently living with diabetes, and this number is expected to exceed 640 million by 2030. Beyond the numbers, diabetes continues to place a significant emotional, financial, and health burden on patients, families, and healthcare systems across the world.
The Ongoing Challenge: Managing a Chronic Condition
Diabetes is not only a medical diagnosis; it is a lifelong behavioral commitment. Successful management requires continuous adherence to treatment, monitoring, and daily lifestyle adjustments. For most patients, the hardest part isn’t learning what to do, it’s keeping it up day after day.
Even when modern therapies are available, maintaining long-term control remains difficult. Many patients continue to face the same invisible barriers:
- Knowledge gaps: Education at diagnosis is often limited to clinical instruction, without the contextual understanding needed for sustainable habit change
- Fragmented follow-up: Once patients leave the clinic, structured touchpoints fade; reminders and reinforcement are inconsistent
- Complex treatment routines: Multi-drug regimens, diet plans, and glucose monitoring can overwhelm even motivated patients
- Lack of credible guidance: In the age of information overload, finding the right person and right source, such as a qualified diet coach or diabetes educator, becomes critical, yet often inaccessible
These challenges highlight a simple truth: diabetes management is as much psychological and social as it is medical. Without empathetic guidance and structured support, even the most disciplined patients can lose momentum, missing doses, delaying follow-ups, and gradually disengaging from care.
These are behavioral and structural challenges, which is where DKSH Patient Solutions (PS) intervenes.
DKSH Patient Solutions: Tailored Models for Better Adherence
Our Patient Support Programs (PSPs) are designed to support patients at different stages of their treatment journey, providing structured and personalized support that improves access, education, and adherence.
- Low-touch digital PSPs provide a structured digital platform where patients can easily enrol, access personalized learning content, and receive automated reminders for treatment milestones. This model helps patients stay informed and consistent, while easing the burden on clinics through self-guided education and adherence tracking
- High-touch nurse educator PSPs focus on direct human interaction. Patients receive guidance from trained nurse educators who provide onboarding, injection training, follow-up calls, and ongoing motivational support. This approach helps build confidence, addresses questions in real time, and supports patients who need more hands-on care
- Hybrid models combine both approaches, starting with digital onboarding and education, then adding nurse follow-up for patients who require closer support or have higher risk of drop-off
These models have been successfully implemented across multiple therapy areas, including diabetes, where they have demonstrated measurable impact on patient engagement and adherence.
The following two case studies will illustrate how these approaches have been applied in diabetes programs, from scalable digital engagement to personalized nurse-led support.
Case Study 1: Low-Touch Digital Program for Diabetes
To support patients starting on injectable diabetes therapy, DKSH Patient Solutions implemented a low-touch digital support program that provides structured guidance while keeping clinic workload minimal.
Through a simple QR-code enrolment and secure prescription upload, patients can quickly join the program and gain access to a personalized digital portal. Once enrolled, they follow a step-by-step learning journey tailored to their therapy stage, covering topics such as dosing, side-effect management, and healthy lifestyle habits. Each stage unlocks bite-sized educational content designed for easy understanding, supported by automated reminders that help patients stay consistent with their medication and clinic visits.
The platform also includes built-in adherence tools, allowing patients to set reminders, revisit content anytime, and track their progress independently. This self-paced, structured approach has improved onboarding efficiency, reduced manual follow-up from clinics, and fostered stronger long-term engagement among patients.
Looking ahead, an optional digital dietician module is being explored to further enhance lifestyle modification support, helping patients translate treatment adherence into sustained behavioral change.
Case Study 2: High-Touch Nurse Educator Program
For patients initiating injectable or complex diabetes therapies, DKSH Patient Solutions implemented a high-touch nurse educator program to provide personalized, human-centered support throughout the treatment journey.
Each patient was guided by a dedicated nurse educator who offered step-by-step onboarding and hands-on injection training during the early treatment phase. Beyond the initial start, nurses maintained regular follow-up calls to check on progress, address questions, and provide motivational counselling to reinforce adherence. They also assisted with refill coordination and helped monitor and report any potential adverse events, ensuring both safety and continuity of care.
This human touch proved critical in building patient confidence and trust, especially among those new to injectable therapy. As a result, the program achieved significant reductions in early dropouts and improved real-world adherence rates. Patients reported feeling more supported and informed, while physicians valued the consistent feedback and reduced burden of follow-up education.
Looking Ahead
As we mark World Diabetes Day 2025, we are reminded that living with diabetes is a continuous journey, one that requires not only access to medicine, but also the knowledge, confidence, and support to stay on track.
At DKSH Patient Solutions, our commitment extends beyond program delivery. We strive to empower patients to take ownership of their health, helping them bridge the gap between prescription and daily practice through consistent education, personalized follow-up, and trusted human connection.
By combining digital innovation with empathetic, high-touch care, we continue to shape a more connected and sustainable model of diabetes management, providing continuous support tailored to each patient’s needs.
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