Who are we ?
Santé Diabète is a Non-Governmental Organization founded in 2001 to respond to the lack of access to healthcare for people with diabetes in Africa and to the failure to take this health emergency into account by development actors at the global level.
Initially present in Mali, Santé Diabète then developed its actions in Burkina Faso, the Union of the Comoros, as well as in France (headquarters of the association), with permanent teams in each country.
Our mission
STRENGTHENING AND STRUCTURING HEALTH SYSTEMS FOR BETTER PREVENTION AND CARE OF DIABETES
With a team of 40 staff members and over 200 local and international partners, Santé Diabète works every day across countries to save lives through prevention and diabetes care programs, aiming to improve the quality of life of people affected by this chronic disease.
Our NGO focuses its work on a comprehensive approach that encompasses all areas essential to the prevention and quality management of diabetes.
THIS INNOVATIVE APPROACH TRANSLATES INTO PRACTICE
BY THE ESTABLISHMENT OF 6 COMPONENTS:
1. PRIMARY PREVENTION
to reduce the human and economic burden of the progression of the disease
2. decentralization of care
to ensure populations have geographic access to quality care
3. Secondary and tertiary prevention / Therapeutic patient education
to reduce the burden of diabetes-related complications
4. REDUCTION OF CARE COSTS
to make access to diabetes care possible for populations
5. integrated approach
including the active involvement of patients and their families by supporting patient associations, self-management initiatives, and advocacy efforts
6. Research
to develop innovative approaches in diabetes and research
This approach is implemented on the ground in collaboration with all institutional partners, including national and local authorities, civil society actors, communities, and people living with diabetes.
This role as a technical partner, supporting diabetes prevention and care policies implemented by governments, ensures that the interventions carried out by the NGO lead to long-term solutions.
For more than two decades, Santé Diabète has developed in-depth expertise on diabetes in Africa and in low- and middle-income countries, as well as on health and development more broadly. This expertise enables the organization to support numerous governments in developing their policies to address Non-Communicable Diseases, or more specifically, diabetes.
More broadly, it has also allowed our NGO to develop other expertises around these issues for governments, international organizations and the United Nations.
The field results and the expert team involved have gradually made Santé Diabète an internationally recognized reference organization for numerous international bodies (International Diabetes Federation, World Health Organization…), scientific societies (Francophone Diabetes Society…), research centers (Transnut, University of Montreal…), and universities (University of Grenoble, University of Montreal, University of Geneva, Harvard University…).
Santé Diabète from 2020 to 2023
Strong values & a humanist approach
Our values are reflected first and foremost in our daily work on the ground, with the support of our partners, through an approach we prefer to describe as humanist rather than humanitarian.
We have made the choice of reasoned growth by using the strength of our networks, to stay as close as possible to the needs of the field, which allows us to maintain good control over our activities and to ensure their relevance, quality and efficiency.
Our organization also draws its legitimacy and strength from its roots in local dynamics. Through our interventions, we ensure that we never replace local actors and always strive to strengthen capacities and support local partners toward autonomy.
Our ethical principles
As an NGO, Santé Diabète is guided by the fundamental principles that must guide humanitarian action, i.e. the principles ofhumanity, of neutrality, ofimpartiality and ofindependence. We are also committed to respecting ethical principles and maintaining complete independence from any political, economic or religious power.
Our action is also guided by the principles of care (or soin in French), therapeutic education and psychosocial support are just as important as clinical care.
Read our code of ethics (in French only)
Our gender strategy
Santé Diabète's gender strategy aims to a better consideration of gender issues, both for Santé Diabète as an organization and for field activities. This strategy takes shape through the creation of an environment that is conducive to gender issues, as well as through better integration of these issues in our programs and in the structuring of our response.
Our gender strategy is based on the various reference guidelines, such as those of the WHO and the EU, on gender and health, gender issues in humanitarian contexts, particularly violence, but also gender and work, and of course, gender and diabetes, including the various socio-economic factors linked to gender that have an impact on the prevention and management of diabetes. Some of the co-morbidities of diabetes, such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, are also taken into account.
This strategic document also provides a reminder of the extent to which gender is taken into account in official documents in the various countries where we operate, and offers a bibliography of what we consider to be particularly relevant in this field and in the development of our organization's strategy.
This document is intended for our teams, our partners, our beneficiaries, and all those who wish to better understand Santé Diabète's approach to gender, and the implementation of this strategy internally and in our programs. Read our gender strategy (in French only)
Our history
Two decades of action
2001 - Foundation of Santé Diabète
Born from a double emergency, the lack of access to care for people with diabetes in Africa and the lack of consideration of this problem by development actors, the NGO Santé Diabète was founded in 2001 by a group of diabetes, health and development specialists to improve the prevention and management of diabetes in Africa.
2003 - First actions in Mali
Stéphane Besançon, current CEO of the NGO, was one of the founding members of this organization, named at the time Santé Diabète Mali, named after the country where the first actions were carried out in the field in 2003.
2001/2011 - PARTNER EXPERTISE AND NETWORK
Between 2001, date of creation of the NGO, and 2011, date of the High Level Summit on Non Communicable Diseases (NCD) during the General Assembly of the United Nations, the international context has evolved with an increasing consideration of the problem of NCDs.
In this context, the expertise and the network of partners developed by the NGO have made it an essential international partner in the interventions put in place to improve the prevention and management of diabetes in Africa.
From 2010 - STRENGTHENING OF ACTIONS CARRIED OUT IN MALI & FIRST DEVELOPMENTS OF PROJECTS OUTSIDE THE COUNTRY
In 2010, significant work was carried out within Santé Diabète to strengthen the actions carried out in Mali while preparing the development of projects outside the country. This extension has been requested by countries, such as Burkina Faso, who wanted to benefit from the methodologies developed over 10 years in Mali, but also because of its legitimacy and its network of partners. This extension also responded to the need to strengthen advocacy at the global level at a time when this health emergency was not yet sufficiently taken into account by the international community.
In 2011 Santé Diabète Mali becomes Santé Diabète and expands its mandate
In 2011, Santé Diabète Mali thus became Santé Diabète. A change of identity and starting point for a new broader mandate, both geographically but also in its missions and based on 4 strategic axes:
→ Develop interventions in new countries outside of Mali (Burkina Faso, Union of the Comoros, Benin, Guinea, etc.)
→ Offer cutting-edge expertise in the fields of diabetes but also more broadly in health and development, supported by a network of world-renowned experts
→ Provide French structures working with sub-Saharan migrants with skills acquired in West Africa
→ Strengthen advocacy actions with the populations and authorities in the countries of the North in order to improve knowledge of diabetes and its challenges in developing countries.
Since 2011 - OPENING OF NEW DELEGATIONS
In 2011, this new mandate was translated into practice by the opening of a development education and international solidarity program in France, followed in 2012 by the creation of a delegation in Burkina-Faso as well as a delegation in 2013 in Senegal and finally in 2015 in the Union of the Comoros. The delegation in Senegal has been closed since 2018. The France headquarters, the delegations of Mali, Burkina Faso and the Comoros continue to develop.
2012
Creation of a Santé Diabète delegation in Burkina Faso and change of the name of the NGO to: "Santé Diabète"
2013
Creation of a Santé Diabète delegation in Senegal, active for 5 years. The delegation was closed in 2018.
2016
Creation of a delegation in the Union of the Comoros and launch of a program to fight diabetes in the archipelago.
Mission "AFD diabetes prevention expertise” in French Polynesia
2017
Launch of a 3-year “Convention Program”
Implementation of a program to integrate diabetes/HIV and diabetes/TB care in Burkina Faso and Mali, financed by "L'Initiative".
2018
Santé Diabète is one of the civil society structures selected to participate in the 2nd United Nations High-Level Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) during the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
2019
Organization of the first inter-country dialogue framework (Mali, Burkina Faso, Union of the Comoros and France) to share and capitalize on the activities implemented and the results obtained in the different countries.
2020
Launch of a new 3-year “convention program” including Mali, Burkina Faso and the Union of the Comoros, mainly co-funded by the French Development Agency and the World Diabetes Foundation. Implementation of a Covid19-Diabetes response plan in Mali and Burkina Faso.
2021
May : adoption of a landmark resolution on diabetes by WHO Member States under the leadership of Santé Diabète.
December : organization in Grenoble of a meeting of French-speaking experts on diabetes
Opening to the Union of the Comoros of our project on Diabetes/HIV and TB/diabetes comorbidities.
2022
Launch of houses for the prevention of diabetes risk factors in our 3 countries of intervention (Burkina Faso, Mali and in the Union of the Comoros) which will greatly strengthen our prevention actions with partner structures from civil society.
2023
Launch of our new 3-year program, which will run from mid-2023 to mid-2026 in Mali, Burkina Faso, the Union of Comoros and France. It is mainly financed in Mali by the Helmsley Charitable Trust, the World Diabetes Foundation, the Swiss Development Cooperation, Life For A Child and the Association Luxembourgeoise du Diabète. In the Comoros Union and Burkina Faso, it is mainly financed by the Agence Française de Développement, the Initiative / Expertise France, le Helmsley Charitable Trust, la World Diabetes Foundation, le programme Life For A Child et la Mairie de Grenoble.
In parallel, Santé Diabète launched exploratory missions in 3 new countries: Djibouti, Togo and Cape Verde.
Our organization
Organization charts
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The team
The NGO Santé Diabète is a team of 40 people organized with:
- A general management team with a general director, an administrative and financial director and a technical director.
- A support team staffed by a communications manager and a person in charge of strengthening the monitoring of prevention and care activities.
- A French head office with an Education for Citizenship and International Solidarity (ECSI) project manager and an administrative and financial manager.
Three country delegations Mali, Burkina Faso and Union of the Comoros each composed of :
- A delegation coordinator
- An administrative and financial manager
- Project managers in charge of the various areas of intervention (healthcare services, prevention, etc.)
Find here, the video presentation of our teams :
Board of directors
The Board of Directors makes all strategic decisions for the association after deliberation. The Board meets with the Director at least every six months.
The Board of Directors is composed of 19 members, including 5 Executive Committee members: President, Secretary and Assistant Secretary, Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer.
- David Hacquin President
- Christophe Perrin Secretary
- David Beran Treasurer
- Laurent Goetz Assistant Treasurer
- Nathalie Le-Moullec Assistant Secretary
- Perrine Geniez Member
- Nathalie Chatillon Member
- Pauline Brailly-Vignal Patients Technical Advisor
- François Samuel Lahaye Medical Advisor
- Anne-Laure Coulon Medical Advisor
- Christine Waterlot Medical Advisor
- Marie Veillon Member
- Cynthia Fleury Member
- Pauline Trébuchet Member
- Joël Grevost Member
- Grégoire Gailly Member
- Marion Medves Member
- Khalda Vescovacci Member
- Hugo Besançon Member
AN INTERNATIONAL NETWORK OF PARTNERS
Santé Diabète relies on a network of high-level partners who provide targeted expertise to guide its interventions and to carry out joint actions on the ground.
- International Diabetes Federation (IDF)
- World Health Organization (WHO)
- West African Health Organization (WAHO)
- World Diabetes Fondation (WDF)
- Société Francophone du Diabète (SFD)
- University of Montreal - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Nutrition, WHO Collaborating Center on Nutritional Transition and Development
- Grenoble University Hospital Center
- Reunion University Hospital Center
- Paris University Hospital Center (La pitié salpêtrière)
- Necker University Hospital for Sick Children - Diabetology Department
- Geneva University Hospitals
- the University of Geneva
- Harvard University
- Reunion University - Educational science
- University of Sydney (Australia)
- Fédération Française des Diabétiques (FFD)
- Luxembourg Diabetes Association (ALD)
- Austrian Association of Diabetes Educators (VOD)
- International Insulin Foundation (IIF)
- Type 1 Diabetes SWEET initiative project
- Geneva Health Forum (GFH)
- Chaire de Philosophie à l’Hôpital et Chaire Humanités et Santé
- Observatoire de la transparence dans les politiques du médicament (OTMeds)
- Life for a Child (LFAC)
- Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH)
- Health Action International (HAI)
- NCD Policy Lab
- T1International
Our publications
Full report (32 pages) of Santé Diabète's activities, including the breakdown of resources.
Biannual bulletin
N°11 - January/June 2023
Synthetic presentation (16 pages) of the missions and programs of Santé Diabète.
FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY
Strict internal and external financial control mechanisms allow Santé Diabète to account at all times for the proper use of the funds entrusted to it: annual external audits conducted by accredited international audit firms, certification of the association’s accounts by a statutory auditor, and external audits of our partners.
98.5% OF OUR FUNDS ARE DIRECTLY USED IN THE FIELD
98,5% SOCIAL MISSIONS
1,5% operating costs
THEY SUPPORT US
FRENCH DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (AFD)
World Diabetes Foundation (WDF)
The Helmsley charitable trust
L’Initiative / Expertise France
Ministère des Solidarités et de la Santé (France)
Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères (France)
GRENOBLE TOWN HALL (FRANCE)
Acciss
HOUSE OF DIABETES (LUXEMBOURG)
Life For A Child (LFAC)
NCD Policy Lab
Learn more
Santé Diabète in action
Discover the programs and initiatives implemented by Santé Diabète on the ground
