46 DI ABETIC LI VING / S UMMER 2 019
economic downturn in 2008. Inspired to
get directly involved, the Atkinsons revived
the U.S. operations in August 2012, agree-
ing to lead Insulin for Life USA as an IFL
Global affiliate. Like the other IFL Global
affiliate programs, IFL USA operates
independently but shares the same mis-
sion: to develop relationships with vetted
partner organizations abroad to provide
supplies free of charge to patients, creating
a support system for managing diabetes.
IFL USA, which has become IFL Global’s
largest affiliate, also has the additional mis-
sion to assist in providing diabetes supplies
during disasters both within the United
States and internationally.
INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS
Today, according to Philip Atkinson, IFL
USA partners with nongovernmental
organizations and health care providers
in 16 countries—including Gambia,
Belize, Nigeria, and India. “We work with
partners who already are treating diabetes
and have a treatment structure,” says Carol
Atkinson. “The country has to be able
to accept humanitarian aid. We have an
application and vetting process for those
who request help.”
IFL USA does outreach with overseas
health care providers to let them know
what supplies are available and learn what
the providers need. Then, staff and vol-
unteers inventory and label supplies and
then pack and arrange them for shipping.
IFL USA has a shipping partner that pro-
vides discounted rates for overseas trans-
ports, which require shipping supplies in
coolers with special ice packs. (Shipping
supplies to their international partners is,
as Carol Atkinson notes, a very expensive
budget item.)
How dramatic is the impact on
communities abroad? In some areas of
the world, diabetes can still be a death
sentence. In Gambia, for instance, the
government only buys a little bit of mixed
insulin every year—not enough to cover
the needs of the whole country—making
it expensive. “To buy [insulin] off the
shelf out of pocket, I don’t think that any
of the children will be able to do that.
None of them would. All of them live
below the poverty line—less than a dollar
a day,” says Alieu Gaye, M.D., a physician
and director of the Pakala Clinic in
Gambia, in a documentary made by
IFL USA about the clinic, which is a
care partner of IFL USA. One of Gaye’s
patients, Lamin Dibba, who was diag-
nosed with type 1 at age 14 and is now
a diabetes educator at the Pakala Clinic,
explains that their challenges include
limited access to insulin and test strips,
as well as a lack of power to refrigerate
insulin.
Gaye runs a free program in his com-
munity that currently provides insulin
and supplies to 69 children with type 1
diabetes. The supplies come from IFL
USA, and the children are given free me-
ters, test strips, and insulin—and, more
than that, education and ongoing care to
improve their lives. “What I’m getting is
a lifeline,” Gaye says.
Kalifa Bojang, whose elder brother
died from the disease, was diagnosed at
age 12. “When I go to the clinic, I have
everything. I have the machine, the sticks,
which we use for blood sugar testing, and
I have all the insulin that’s needed for me.
I didn’t pay anything to the clinic,” he says
in the documentary, Insulin for Life.
