Canada is among the ten countries with the highest rates of type 1 diabetes in the world-and with the prevalence of type 1 diabetes projected to increase in all countries over the next two decades, it is more important than ever to support research to improve our understanding of the condition, develop more effective treatments, and prevent the complications that come with it.
Today, Adam van Koeverden, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health, on behalf of the Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health, announced that the Government of Canada, in collaboration with JDRF Canada, is investing $33 million to support 12 research projects that will work to prevent, detect, manage, and treat diabetes.
Four research teams will work on precision medicine in type 1 diabetes to tailor diabetes care to each patient's specific needs and investigate the diversity within beta cell populations. One of these teams, led by Dr. Farid Mahmud at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, is studying how differences in genes, environments, and social factors contribute to differences in diabetes outcomes for youth with type 1 diabetes.
An additional seven teams will investigate the mental, emotional, and social effects of diabetes, and diabetes prevention and management, with an emphasis on children and young adults. Four of these projects will focus on type 1 diabetes, and three projects will focus on type 2 diabetes.
This funding will also support a national screening research consortium, led by Dr. Diane Wherrett at SickKids, that will bring together experts and people affected by diabetes, to advance screening for early-stage, pre-symptomatic type 1 diabetes in Canada.
The Government of Canada is providing funding for this investment through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), as part of the 100 Years of Insulin initiative to accelerate Canadian discoveries to defeat diabetes, in collaboration with JDRF Canada through the CIHR-JDRF partnership to defeat diabetes.
