The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued its first-ever guidelines on the diagnosis and management of type 1 diabetes in adults, seeking to improve access to lifesaving insulin and treatment, particularly in countries with limited healthcare resources.
The recommendations call for regular insulin injections, blood glucose monitoring, and affordable treatment, as millions of people still face challenges accessing the care they need to survive.
According to WHO, an estimated 9.5 million people were living with type 1 diabetes globally in 2025, with another 500,000 diagnosed during the year.
The guidelines, released on Saturday during World Diabetes Day 2026, are designed to apply across different healthcare settings, including low-resource, emergency and humanitarian environments.
Type 1 diabetes is a lifelong condition in which the body does not produce enough insulin, making people dependent on daily insulin treatment to survive.
"Insulin is a lifesaving treatment, discovered more than 100 years ago. Yet many people with type 1 diabetes do not have access to affordable and high-quality insulin," said Dr Søren Brostrøm, WHO Director of Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health.
He said the new guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations to help countries improve diabetes care, including where resources are limited and health services are disrupted.
WHO recommends that people with type 1 diabetes receive insulin injections several times a day, with doses adjusted according to their blood glucose levels.
The guidelines identify human insulin, a manufactured medicine that works like insulin naturally produced by the body, as an appropriate and effective treatment option. Other types of insulin may also be used when necessary.
The global health agency also recommends regular blood glucose monitoring to help patients and healthcare workers manage the condition.
This can be done through clinic-based blood tests that measure average blood sugar levels over several months, finger-prick tests at home or continuous glucose monitors using small sensors worn on the skin.
Where blood glucose testing is unavailable, WHO says urine glucose testing can be considered.
The recommendations support the organisation's target of ensuring everyone with type 1 diabetes has access to affordable insulin treatment and blood glucose self-monitoring by 2030.
WHO said it would support countries in implementing the guidelines through practical tools and progress-tracking measures, while encouraging governments to involve people living with diabetes in designing and evaluating treatment programmes.
This year's World Diabetes Day theme is "Early action on diabetes".
The agency warns that diabetes can cause serious complications, including blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower-limb amputation.
Globally, 830 million people were living with diabetes in 2022, with more than 40 per cent unaware they had the condition.