New Zealand is lagging behind other Western countries in funding life-saving blood sugar monitoring devices for diabetics that don’t require a pinprick, experts say. Continuous glucose monitoring devices are funded in Australia, the UK and Canada. Paediatrician and diabetes specialist Ben Wheeler wants the devices, which particularly help children, to be funded here. There are an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people in New Zealand living with type 1 diabetes. That wasn’t too big of a leap from the funded pinprick devices, which cost $35 a week, he added.

Source: Stuff June 30, 2021 02:37 UTC