Type 1 diabetes petition calls for increase funding into cure research

Over 42,000 people have signed the 2nd Annual More for a Cure petitio, which has called for increased funding into type 1 diabetes research.
The US petitio, which was launched on 6 September 2016 by the Juvenile Diabetes Cure Alliance (JDCA), has already acquired twice as many signatures in six weeks than last year’s petition did in four months.
The JDCA, a privately funded type 1 diabetes-focused nonprofit, reports that funding for type 1 diabetes cure research dropped to a record low in 2015.
JDCA data shows that the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and JDRF are the two largest fundraising organisations for diabetes, but the amount of money used to fund cure research has declined over the past five years.
The JDRF’s income was $197 million (£160m) in 2015, of which only 37 per cent was used to fund type 1 diabetes research grants. In contrast, this figure was 64 per cent in 2008. The ADA, meanwhile, has an annual income of $182 million (£148m), yet only three per cent was used to fund type 1 research.
Establishing greater transparency from charities is a key objective of JDCA, which highlights several fundraising events hosted by these organisations state that the proceeds will go towards funding a type 1 diabetes cure.
In the petitio, the JDCA says that “by signing this petitio, you join all of us in asking the JDRF, ADA, and other key T1D fundraisers to significantly increase the amount of money used for research grants”.
Phil Shaw, the JDCA’s General Manager, is delighted with the way the type 1 diabetes community is coming together to support the petition.
“We are very pleased with the response the petition is getting, although we are not surprised considering the fact that cure research is the number one stated priority of the T1D community,” he said.
The petition can be found here.