Project Baiterek: A Patient Access Program to Improve Clinical Outcomes and Quality of Life in Children with Type 1 Diabetes in Kazakhstan

Diabetes is a key driver in the rise of noncommunicable diseases globally. It causes expensive and burdensome short- and long-term complications, with both an economic and social impact. In many countries, however, access to care and disease management in type 1 diabetes is suboptimal, increasing the risk for complications. In 2011, Project Baiterek was initiated as a collaborative effort between the Kazakhstan Ministry of Health, industry (Medtronic Plc), local physicians, and the Diabetes Association of the Republic of Kazakhstan to enhance patient access to continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) therapy. It was the first countrywide project to provide equity and universal access to insulin pump therapy among children with type 1 diabetes, increasing pump use from zero to two-thirds of this population in less than 3 years. The project also involved instigating longitudinal data collection, and long-term clinical outcomes continue to be monitored. Here, we provide an overview of the clinical, quality-of-life, and economic outcomes to date associated with providing CSII therapy to children with type 1 diabetes in Kazakhstan. Initial clinical data show that CSII therapy improved clinical outcomes and quality of life for patients entered into the program and that CSII therapy was cost-effective relative to multiple daily injection therapy. The positive outcomes of Project Baiterek provide a template for similar patient access programs in other settings, and its framework could be adapted to initiatives to change health care infrastructures and standards of care for other noncommunicable diseases.