Helping people with diabetes in El Salvador

Nine dollars a month. It does not sound like much help, but if around 40 employees and managers in a company take nine dollars or more each month and commonly give it to a diabetes fundraising project in the developing world, it amounts to something, our story from El Salvador shows.   In El Salvador 149 people with diabetes, visiting the Rosales National Hospital, are given one of two types of oral medication at no cost, which enables them to ease the difficulties of living with diabetes. The money comes from deductions from personal salaries from managers as well as employees working in the medical company Novo Nordisk in Denmark, who typically give 9-25 USD each month for people with diabetes in El Salvador. The will is plenty, but basics are lacking The Rosales Hospital is the main hospital of referral for the whole country and treats 100 patients daily with a range of serious complications caused by their diabetes. The diabetes team is very dedicated and highly motivated, but their task is enormous and the lack of basic equipment and educational materials complicates the situation. The fundraising project is run by the national diabetes association ASADI (Asociación Salvadoreña de Diabéticos). Due to the lack of availability of diabetes care and services in the public sector, ASADI is vital for providing diabetes services, particularly within diabetes education and provision of subsidised or free medicines. Giving poor people with diabetes air to breathe 46 year old Rosa Emma Chavez de Cruz is one of the people given free medication. She was diagnosed with diabetes in 2000 and now she has to struggle with a cancer diagnosis too. “I am a Christian and I have received it with acceptance”, Rosa explains. The services supplied by the project have had a very positive effect for Rosa. She says; “poor people in my country don not have the possibility of buying medicine”. Rosa’s son giver her 40 USD a month, to help her get by. In addition she sells fruit in the market, to survive. ASADI support patients on a daily basis by giving free medication, but they also think ahead; patients are frequently educated on diabetes, and part of the funds has been invested in an ophthalmoscope, an apparatus extremely necessary in physical exams, for the Endocrinology Department at the Rosales National Hospital. Preventive eye checks will help the diabetes patients from developing blindness from diabetic retinopathy, a common complication in people with diabetes and – sadly - a common cause of blindness in the developing world. Gloria Milagro Argueta, administration manager, ASADI can only report positive feedback on the project: “Our very poor people with diabetes are very grateful!”   General information about the project