International Health Health & Medicine Reports & Indices

World Health Organization issues guidelines on insulin use for type 1 diabetes in adults, including in emergency settings

12 November 2026

New World Health Organization advice sets out how adults living with type 1 diabetes should use insulin. It applies to ordinary care and to places where a crisis has disrupted health services.
The guidelines strongly recommend intensified insulin therapy using multiple daily injections, with doses adjusted to measured blood glucose values.
They accept that emergency and humanitarian settings may call for a different approach, and so set out context-adapted care.
Both human insulin and insulin analogues may be used, and human insulin is preferred because it generally costs less.

Main recommendation: Intensified insulin therapy with multiple daily injections Preferred insulin: Human insulin, as it is generally cheaper Global target year: 2030

Why it matters for exams: The durable facts are that the World Health Organization's guidelines on adult type 1 diabetes strongly recommend intensified insulin therapy with multiple daily injections, prefer human insulin on cost grounds, and come from its Global Diabetes Compact.

Kerala PSCUPSC

12 November 2026 Source: World Health Organization

In plain words

Type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes mellitus — A condition in which the body makes little or no insulin of its own.

Insulin analogue Insulin analogue — A laboratory-altered insulin designed to act faster or longer.

Global Diabetes Compact Global Diabetes Compact — A World Health Organization initiative to improve diabetes care and access.