To mark World Diabetes Day and the first anniversary of its Together on Diabetes initiative, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation has announced eight grants totaling $18.4 million to nonprofit organizations working to assist communities and populations disproportionately affected by type 2 diabetes.

The grants will help develop effective, comprehensive solutions that integrate a range of services to improve health outcomes and reduce disease burden. Grant recipients include the Duke University Medical Center, which was awarded $6.25 million over five years to develop, pilot, and implement a series of community-based interventions designed to improve diabetes self-management, health outcomes, and quality of life; the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, which received $3.45 million over five years to strengthen community-based components of its Camden Citywide Diabetes Collaborative; and Feeding America, which was awarded $3.1 million over three years to work with the Food Bank of Corpus Christi, the Mid-Ohio Foodbank, and the Redwood Empire Food Bank to pilot partnerships between foodbanks and health centers that provide diabetes screening, care coordination, nutrition and disease education, and healthy foods to food insecure adults with type 2 diabetes.

A five-year, $100 million initiative, Together on Diabetes is designed to strengthen patient self-management and mobilize community-based supportive services for adults in hard-hit communities. To that end, the latest round of grants targets programs serving Native Americans, Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta region, the urban and rural poor, people who are food insecure, and people suffering from both depression and diabetes.

"Type 2 diabetes is continuing to grow year to year in the U.S. despite significant prevention and control efforts," said Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation president John Damonti. "The creative projects of our partners are challenging and expanding current thinking and laying important groundwork for more comprehensive and impactful diabetes control efforts going forward."