The project seeks to raise awareness of diabetes and improve diabetes care in the Volta region of Ghana.
Expected impact
20 diabetes care centres will be established at community level
Appr. 1 million people are expected to benefit through awareness activities, such as community outreach and radio broadcasting, and access to better diabetes care
Results at project completion
20 diabetes care centres were been opened during the project period. Due to the introduction of a new national health plan, these centres have closed again.
Large amounts of communities, towns and villages in the Volta Region were visited and awareness and screening activities conducted. As a result, awareness levels regarding chronic diseases have increased.
Project details
According to the IDF Diabetes Atlas 2nd Ed., Ghana has a diabetes prevalence of 3.3% of the adult population. Health care capacity to address the problem is, however, limited.
Typically diabetes care is available at regional level. This implies that people with diabetes or people suspecting that they may have diabetes have to travel significant distances to access care.
Also, the patient load on the few clinics is heavy, affecting the time available for counselling and treating the individual patients and limiting the amount of time allocated for diabetes education.
Approach
The overall goal of the project is to help community members take on the responsibility to improve their own health and that of their family and community.
In total, 20 diabetes care centres will be established in the target communities of the Volta region with an average of 5 centres per year.
The diabetes care centres will be set up outside of the public health system with ownership of the centres resting with the communities. The centres will be managed by community steering committees, called Anti Diabetes Clubs.
To ensure the link to and coordination with the public health system, the centres will submit quarterly reports to the District Health Management teams of the Ministry of Health.
The centres will be staffed by community care providers (CCPs) recruited among the target communities. Typically the staff would be retired health workers and nurses. Initially each centre would have 3 CCPs attached. This number will be increased as the need arises.
The role of the diabetes care centres is to:
Raise awareness of diabetes, risk factors and prevention
Provide care to people with diabetes
Offer diabetes and blood pressure screening
Counsel and educate people with diabetes, their relatives and risk groups
Conduct home visits
Refer complicated cases to district or regional hospitals
It is expected that the proximity of care will enable early detection of diabetes. Also, the centres will improve management of existing diabetes cases and thereby limit the number of severe complications.
Revolving funds will be set up to ensure continuous and reliable supply of the essential drugs. The project assists the revolving funds with the initial capital, allowing them to procure the first batch of drugs. After that they will be self-sustainable.
