Lilly funds $15 million diabetes peer education program

Lilly funds $15 million diabetes peer education program

A $15 million gift from the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation is funding a peer-support program for people with diabetes. The Peers for Progress program will identify and train diabetic volunteers to become certified "Diabetes Mentors." These laypeople will help other people with diabetes to better manage the emotional, social, and self-care demands of the disease. According to Eli Lilly, the need for the program is great because although the number of people with diabetes is on the rise, the number of healthcare providers to serve them is not. The program aims to empower 1% of the people with diabetes in America, or 200,000 patients, to become Diabetes Mentors and to expand globally to include two million mentors around the world by 2020.