Securing a future for Prince Leonard

	Prince is now receiving help through the fundraising activities initiated by the World Diabetes Foundation - here he is standing next to his father.

Nine year old Prince Leonard Shoo from Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, carries the double disease burden on his tiny shoulders, dealing with the major diseases of Africa by himself and in his family.

Today, many developing countries are facing what we call the double disease burden: Already struggling with an array of infectious diseases, diabetes and other non-communicable diseases are on the rise. The price of this double disease burden is high; too many people are caught in the vicious circle of ill health, low household income and lack of education; all factors perpetuating and enhancing poverty. The biggest victims are the children.

Prince’s first admission to the hospital was when he was born in May 1998 as a twin. Complications forced his admission to a hospital for three weeks, during which it became clear for the family that his mother was HIV positive.

In Sub Saharan Africa, 1.7 million people die each year from AIDS, while 22.5 million live with the disease, according to UN. Close to the same amount; 18.7 million people live with diabetes in Africa, while 337,000 deaths are caused by diabetes yearly. Malaria and diarrhea are other big killers.

The family burdened by Africa's common killer diseases

Prince Leonard’s second admission was due to a cocktail of common infectious diseases; malaria, pneumonia, and anemia from which the little boy recovered. The saddest cut was when he came to the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) in Moshi in the summer of 2007, he was sent there to receive treatment for newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes. Complaining of frequent passing of urine, body weakness, headache, dizziness and excessive thirst, he was referred from a private hospital that had diagnosed him, to the diabetes clinic at KCMC where he was put on insulin treatment.

The news was devastating for the father, who, for some years already, had suffered from AIDS, and who two years earlier lost his wife due to AIDS. It is hard to believe, but Prince Leonard was lucky; his diabetes was diagnosed and treated, while far too many children simply die at the onset of their diabetes, admitted to a hospital much too late.

There are generally no available records of diabetes in children in Sub-Saharan Africa, where an estimated 38,000 children live with diabetes. In Tanzania, 5,000 children theoretically live with diabetes. But the Tanzanian Diabetes Association (TDA) expects that only 500-1,000 children actually live with type 1 diabetes, one of them being Prince Leonard. The remaining thousands are not being diagnosed in due time to survive.

HIV/AIDS had already had a devastating effect on the entire Shoo family, and the risk of Prince Leonard and his twin brother also being HIV positive was high. Despite this fact, the father rejected to have the twins tested for HIV; the answer would be unbearable, he told the sisters at the clinic.

Funds raised now help Prince and 46 other children

Since his admission in June 2007, Prince Leonard has been invited to be part of 47 children receiving support from a World Diabetes Foundation fundraising project, targeting three clinics in Tanzania. This has been very good news for the family, as the yearly cost for a family to provide complete care for one child with diabetes is estimated at USD 535. As part of the programme, Prince Leonard receives care absolutely free.

Having realized that his son was receiving good care for diabetes and had a fighting chance of surviving Prince’s father agreed to have him tested for HIV, and last month they visited the clinic to receive the answers. Prince was HIV-negative. A message received with joy by all the people in the clinic.

Read more about the programme here

This page was last updated 2-7-2008 by jrb.wdf