IDENTIFYING THE REAL NEEDS OF DIABETIC CHILDREN FOR A BETTER LIFE AND ASSESS THE ALIGNMENT OF COUNTRY RESEARCH ACTIVITIES WITH THESE NEEDS; HI INVENTOR PROJECT

Background: The main problem of modern humans is non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, etc. Diabetes has the highest prevalence. It imposes many costs on society and the patient. Diabetics have special needs for a better life; hence, the researcher's aim is to accomplish them by defining researches and technology missions. Our purpose was to understand the real needs of a diabetic patient. Previous studies were evaluated to find out which one was effective. Methods: In this research, 120 diabetic children's parents were requested to write a letter entitled "Hi Inventor" and describe any efficient inventions, which could make life easier for their children. Besides, research papers and patents from Iran over the past ten years have been evaluated in terms of their compliance with patients' needs. Results: Parent's statements gathered in the form of 12 real needs. The main concern was the invasive method of blood glucose testing and they were asking for innovative method to measure blood glucose with less pain. Among published articles by Iranian researchers over the past ten years, 3% of the articles were in some way related to the actual needs of patients with diabetes. A total of 1017 patents from Iran was looked for, there were 3 diabetes-related patents. Discussion: To sufficiently support the conducting research and identifying research priorities in the country, it is necessary to consider a balanced ratio between fundamental and applied research so that the patients' community can benefit from the early results of research as well.