T1International USA

T1International and patient advocates have been working on insulin access and affordability issues since 2013. We support local communities by giving them the tools they need to stand up for their rights so that access to insulin and diabetes supplies becomes a reality for all. If the millions of Americans that are insulin dependent (and their allies) speak up, government representatives will take action to hold insulin manufacturers accountable and ensure insulin is affordable and accessible for all. We will continue to advocate as a united community, free of pharmaceutical industry influence, until #insulin4all is a reality.

We raise awareness of type 1 diabetes (T1D) issues and share the voices of people living with T1D around the world. We do this by working with a network of state based Chapters and their advocates to encourage and enable local communities to stand up for their rights and share their stories.

We work toward a higher standard of research, data and statistics about the issues faced by those with type 1 diabetes (T1D). We deliver a global survey every two years that reports the out of pocket costs of living with type 1 diabetes and work with our partners and networks to ensure accurate and relevant information is collected to support our mission.

We act as a knowledge hub, providing and signposting to key information and resources related to type 1 diabetes (T1D). We continually build out our tools and resources both for our advocates and the wider public. We translate our resources in to many languages and are always working to grow accessibility of our information and support to all communities.

We campaign for systemic and sustainable change for people with type 1 diabetes (T1D) globally. Alongside our work in individual states we also campaign on the federal level, working with partners and advocates to ensure the insulin crisis stays on the national agenda and movement is made for long term high level change.

Founded in 2013, T1International is a diabetes advocacy organization that continues to truly embody a patient-led ethos with patients, parents, caregivers and allies within its ever growing team of staff and volunteers who are at the heart of every decision and action. Together we fight for affordable access to essential insulin and diabetes supplies worldwide by educating and empowering dedicated advocates to take action. T1International USA was officially founded in November 2019, and over the past 18 months has grown from one full time staff person into a solid and efficient team, with strong organizational structures to support our long term success.

Programmatically, T1I USA has been able to celebrate multiple legislative wins including playing a significant role in keeping insulin pricing on the national radar. T1International is the only patient-led diabetes organization addressing insulin and supply prices through global grassroots advocacy.

- We build genuine relationships with people living with and impacted by diabetes and get continual feedback to ensure that the patient communities' priorities are our organization's priorities.

- We continue to grow our community to best reflect the many nuanced perspectives and range of people with diabetes and their lived experience. We work to ensure that our movement is fully representative of the wider community, especially in lifting up the voices of the most impacted and historically excluded communities.

- We continue are in the minority in our stance on not receiving pharma funding and retaining our complete independence and ability to put the needs of the patient first. We always have a strong response to pharma rhetoric and can source the best representation for responses and activities from our community.

- We continue to stay at the forefront of insulin access issues, building our knowledge as a team and educating advocates on its history, context, its disparate impact and research findings. We also continually grow our data and our partnerships so that we are uplifting patients' voices in every platform.

Some key highlights that showcase our progress so far are:

- We have facilitated 50+ patients with diabetes and their families the opportunity to take part in state and federal level hearings to tell their stories and share their truths.

- Alongside our advocates we have taken more than 100 other actions that have led to the passage of insulin and medication price legislation across the United States. For example, since July 2020, 465 Minnesotans have accessed life-saving insulin due to the Alec Smith Affordability Act. Several states are now working to pass similar legislation, including Maine.

- We ensured that the World Health Organization made diabetes and insulin access issues a priority, passing a resolution on diabetes that includes transparency measures. The WHO has asked T1I for insight into our patient-led model.

- T1I and our advocates celebrated a monumental advocacy win as the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the addition of long-acting insulin analogues to the Model List of Essential medicines (EML). T1International staff and volunteers around the world submitted testimony and campaigned in large numbers in support of analogues being added to the EML.

- Since 2018 we have stablished and managed 39 #insulin4all Chapters in the USA, with thousands of active volunteers, including patients with diabetes, caregivers and allies, and thousands more affiliated both in the USA and internationally.

- We have a monthly space for our Legislative Leads to support Chapters in increasing their knowledge and skills related to developments on state-level legislation around access to insulin. It also builds community and provides a forum to educate Chapters about priority subjects related to our mission. This year, we hosted guests from the Democracy Collaborative and AELP and state policy makers to support Chapters in winning state based legislative efforts.

- We have our Federal Working Group to ensure patients and impacted communities are guiding our federal level policy work from the ground up.