‘I skip meals to make my insulin last’: the cost of diabetes in the global south

A person with diabetes checking their blood sugar. The cost of insulin can be a huge burden for many patients. Photograph: Mrinal Nag/Getty/iStockphoto

‘I ration my insulin every month,” says Khushi Ahuja, a law student from Delhi who has type 1 diabetes and relies on human insulin manufactured by the US company Eli Lilly to manage her condition. While insulin is available at no cost in some public hospitals in India, it is mostly up to individuals to buy the drug.

“Every month I hear about insulin prices rising and I feel guilty about burdening my parents,” Ahuja says. “I skip meals to make my insulin last longer.”