World Diabetes Day: Promoting Access to Medical Healthcare for the Poor
As the world marks World Diabetes Day on Saturday November 14, 2009, recent research shows that diabetes is increasingly becoming a major health risk among the poor.
A study conducted in Nairobi’s Korogocho and Viwandani slums by the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) indicates that about 18% of adults in the slums are either hypertensive or diabetic. Since these have long been considered lifestyle diseases associated with the rich, medical services to manage them are too expensive and remain out of reach for the poor. For instance, a dose of insulin costs Kshs500 at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH). In pharmacies the same dose costs Kshs1, 500. “Moreover, drugs to manage diabetes or hypertension can only be obtained from health facilities that are designated as level three and higher such as district and general hospitals,” says Dr Samuel Oti of APHRC. As such, people from the slum settlements have to travel long distances to get the drugs from these facilities as they cannot access them from lower level facilities such as local health dispensaries which are closer to them.
Since 2008, APHRC has been holding free outreach clinics fortnightly in Korogocho and Viwandani to offer free medical services to those affected by these conditions. The clinics attend to about 400 patients.
Majority of patients with diabetes are often unaware of their condition and are thus diagnosed in later stages when it is too late and life threatening complications such as kidney failure, heart attacks and blindness have set in. This calls for increased efforts to sensitize the public on the need for regular screening. A needs assessment conducted by APHRC in health centers that serve slum settlements also reveals a great need for training medical staff on diabetes screening and patient management.
As a consequence, this month APHRC is holding workshop training on diabetes and hypertension management for clinical officers, nurses, laboratory technicians and other medical staff from health centers within Nairobi. You are invited to attend practical sessions of the training on Thursday 12, November 2009 from 2.00pm at Kenyatta National Hospital, Rahimtulla Hall, 2nd floor. With support from The World Diabetes Foundation, APHRC will also provide screening equipments to 15 of these health centers.
The 2009 World Diabetes Day slogan is Understand Diabetes and Take Control (visit website for more information: http://www.worlddiabetesday.org/).
Tags: Diabetes; World Diabetes Day; Samuel Oti;
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