Canada-Wide Initiatives
We set and achieve advocacy goals at multiple levels: nationally, provincially, and through special-interest groups.
National Advocacy
Drug Review Process
Did you know? The Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) recommends which drugs, technologies, and treatments public insurance plans should cover. Some private insurance plans also base their coverage decisions on these recommendations.
CADTH's clinical, economic, and patient experience analysis has led them to recommend NPH as the first-choice basal for people with T1D.
They don't recommend rapid-acting insulin (Fiasp, NovoRapid, Humalog, Apidra) over Regular (Humulin R, Toronto) for adults.
We want to change that.
CADTH accepts input from patient groups as part of their drug review process. We will ensure that these reviews reflect the voices and needs of people living with T1D.
Leading Change through Data
We make a meaningful difference to people living with T1D. We want governments, organizations, and policymakers to clearly hear the needs of the T1D community.
We poll the Type 1 Together community to ensure these efforts are data driven.
Provincial Advocacy
Type 1 Together supports provincial teams in setting and achieving province-level goals. Consider:
- A group of Islanders wants insulin pump coverage for adults.
- People in BC have noticed that some provinces give away free sharps containers. They'd like the same arrangement in BC.
Special Interest Advocacy
Some advocacy issues are specific to a certain region or interest group. Consider:
- Union members want to advocate for their union to include CGM coverage in the next round of contract negotiations.
- Parents in a school district want to ensure their children can go on field trips unaccompanied.
- People with visual impairments want to give accessibility feedback to people who design diabetes software.
We know that living with T1D can be exhausting. We get it. We know that you may sometimes (or frequently!) feel like you have no extra energy to give.
We also believe that we can make a huge difference if each of the 250,000 Canadians diagnosed with T1D each volunteered or advocated for couple of hours a year.