Type 1 diabetes is a manageable condition if the correct insulin and instruments are available. The number of type 1 patients requiring treatment has been increasing, but the availability of supplies has declined. For decades, treatment of type 1 patients has lagged behind the rest of the developed nations, with patients still being treated with contempt, and stigmatised. A dignified and more humane approach has to be adopted, placing the wellbeing of patients at the core of treatment with a steady supply of insulin and glucose monitoring implements.

Below is our petition to sign. These will be shared with patient testimonies including the example ones below. Please sign and share your testimony using the form to the right. Your name and location will be shared publicly.

Example Patient testimonies:

My name is Janice and I am an expert in lived experience as a person living with type 1 diabetes for 44 years. I am a T1International #insulin4all advocate, and the South African #insulin4all chapter leader. I believe in a world where everyone who needs insulin and glucose self-monitoring supplies, no matter where they live, has access to it. It was a major setback for me, when I missed my appointment at the hospital because I was writing exams on the same day. The system was, and still is, unforgiving! I tried to get earlier appointments or access insulin, but the bureaucracy was uncompromising and unmovable. I had to return home without insulin and start rationing the miniscule amounts that I had. That feeling of hopelessness, of imminent death, still haunts me today. The physical, emotional and psychological impact of knowing that your death is preventable, but is still going to happen, is indescribable. It is outrageous that people are still experiencing this trauma today. Please let it end!

I'm Adnaan from Zeerust in the North West. As a person living with type 1 diabetes I have been pushed around by our system between the local government hospital and nearby clinics. Each place claims to not have insulin in stock or the right type of insulin and refer me back and forth between the hospital and clinics. I finally went to the government clinic in Potchefstroom. They gave me the wrong insulin at first, and when I corrected them, they said that they don't have Rapid Acting Insulin in stock. I went to the government hospital there and explained the situation. The hospital then said that the clinic was lying to me, and they do have Rapid Acting Insulin stock. Gaming with people’s lives is extremely frustrating, dangerous and unacceptable. We must end this treatment and improve access in both government hospitals and clinics.

I am Nwabisa, a 38 year old South African type 1 diabetic. I am currently an MBA candidate at Wits University, but I have had to suspend my studies due to sudden unemployment. Because of my sudden financial hardship, I am currently unable to afford the most basic medication that keeps me alive, insulin. When purchased out of pocket, insulin costs approximately R1500 and I simply cannot afford it. I also require test strips to monitor my blood sugar levels, which cost R250 for 50 strips. Ideally, I need to test daily to manage my condition safely. I sought urgent care from the public health system, given my lack of access to private healthcare. The experience that followed was traumatic, life-threatening, and deeply disheartening. As an unemployed graduate with lived experience navigating the public healthcare system as a type 1 diabetic, I had to plead and persist through multiple dismissals (from medical professionals, multiple doctors and a receptionist who did not treat my case as an emergency) for life-saving medication. All these medical professionals should have known how serious my condition was at the time. Had I not been desperate and persistent, I could have died that day. Type 1 diabetes is called a silent killer because you look absolutely fine when you are in a medical emergency such as hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia. I am demanding that the Department of Health and relevant oversight bodies urgently review:
(1) The consistent availability of insulin at public clinics and hospitals.
(2) Staff training and emergency protocols for insulin-dependent patients.
(3) The overall responsiveness and accountability of healthcare workers treating chronic patients in crisis.

My name is Lize. I take my two-year-old daughter to the diabetes clinic at Middelburg hospital. It has been a nightmare for us to manage my daughter’s newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes. Some months we get 50 test strips, while most of the time we are told that the pharmacy has no stock to dispense. Please try to understand how incredibly difficult it is when you cannot test your child’s glucose before bed. We all know how glucose levels can drop too low during the night, resulting in a diabetic coma, or worse, death! She is only two. She does not know how to tell me that she is experiencing hypoglycaemia. Please don’t ignore my plea and make glucose test strips available to all who need them!