Fellows in diabetes care

In some African countries there is only one endocrinologist working with diabetes in the whole country. WDF and IDF are training more.

When only a few people alone must offer professional expertise in the field of diabetes, the knowledge about, and interest in, diabetes care is unlikely to thrive. In the fight against diabetes and its related problems there is a need for more local champions who also see this fight as their outmost challenge. Quality care to patients can only be given from qualified and trained health care personal. They will only exist in a health system with an appropriate amount of knowledge and willingness to improve the lives of the people suffering from diabetes.

Expanding the horizon

“Like I say to my colleagues, we are limited by our horizon but we can expand our horizon by the acquisition of knowledge” says Dr. Chuks Ekpebegh a young diabetes doctor from Nigeria. He is one of nine doctors who have received a fellowship grant under the WDF-IDF collaboration to be able to train abroad.

In 2003 the first four young doctors where given a fellowship to be able to pursue specialised training in diabetes prevention, management and control abroad. The programme enables young health care professionals from less developed countries to receive specialised training in the area of diabetes for a period of up to six months.The project is run by IDF (International Diabetes Federation), and supported by the World Diabetes Foundation. In 2004 five other doctors were given the same opportunity. Areas of focus have included general diabetes care, foot care, impotence, diagnosis and treatment of gestational diabetes and ultrasound scanning for malformations due to gestational diabetes.

Text book knowledge comes to live

The project aims to build capacity in the area of diabetes in the developing countries and to identify local champions; one of them will be Dr. Ekpebegh from Nigeria. He is concluding his masters programme in Endocrinology at the University in Cape Town; “My stay in Cape Town has brought into sharp focus the gross deficiencies in my country's health care system and the attendant preventable morbidity and mortality” says Dr. Ekpebegh who is about to return to Nigeria. “I now realize that all the endocrinological problems in text books occur in Nigeria but we are limited by the paucity of what I choose to term working and practical knowledge due to inadequate diagnostic and therapeutic facilities”.

Every grantee story is pointing forward

Dr. Bishwajit Bhowmik from Bangladesh trained in the UK and Australia and initiated several diabetes projects on return, among them diabetes training of patients and there relatives. He explains why; “I believe we should give more emphasis on patient self-care and this inspires me to organize this program”.

Miguel Pinto from Peru trained in Spain. Before he was a grantee, he worked in the endocrine service and was in charge of the foot unit. Since his return he has become the scientific director of the Peruvian Diabetes Association. His training experience is already benefiting the people of Peru: “The IDF/WDF Fellowship grant gave to me the opportunity to perform a short training period in prevention of Diabetic Foot Disease, and now, we are replicating this successful Spanish program in our service”.

Mao Heng returned to Cambodia from a stay in France in 2004. His topic study in France was management and clinical treatment in diabetes. Before he was given the IDF grant he worked in Calmette Hospital, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in the curative field. “But coming back from France in December 2004, the Ministry of Health gave me the good opportunity in the health preventive fields. So he puts me to be a deputy director of Municipality Health Department of Phnom Penh. It’s time for me to give my curatives experiences from my training in France to all my colleagues for management and strategy to fight diabetes in our poor country”.

A multiplier effect

The World Diabetes Foundation is pleased to hear that the fellows are dedicated to continue pursuing a career in the field of diabetes. “In addition to the direct benefit to the successful candidates, we expect an indirect multiplier effect throughout the health care systems in the countries of origin of the fellows”, says Anil Kapur, Managing Director of WDF. “The returning trainees will be in a position to pass on knowledge to other health care professionals of all categories. This may translate into an anticipated improvement in patient care”, he says.

“From the IDF perspective we are delighted with the programme and very positive indeed”, says Professor Clive Cockram, Vice-President of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the person responsible for selecting the candidates from the many applicants, he continues; “we have been able to send some good fellows for excellent training”. The project ends in March 2007 but Professor Cockram says that he very much hopes to be able to continue an exchange for many more years.