gwen's blog

In Rwanda, partners come together to lift diabetes care

Etienne Uwingabire from the Rwanda Diabetes Association draws a crowd to a diabetes screening event in Kigali. Click above to see a short film.

In 2016, Rwanda’s Ministry of Health launched a comprehensive plan to protect the country’s residents from premature morbidity and mortality related to NCDs. It included a strong rationale for action, the Minister of Health’s endorsement – and a call for more financing to address the significant funding gap.

WDF funds 13 new projects in second half of 2018

Potential beneficiaries of WDF18-1579, a new project combatting NCDs among Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, with a focus on women’s health.
Projects funded by WDF in the second half of 2018 stretch from Argentina to Zimbabwe, and focus on a variety of interventions and focus areas. But they share a goal of diabetes prevention and – as neatly summarised by the new Niger project - to improve the health of people with diabetes.
 
Below is a list of the 13 new partnership projects that received WDF funding in the second six months of 2018. 
 

New projects signed in second half of 2018

Rwanda fundraiser supports vulnerable youth

Crispin Gishoma and Esperance Habinshuti (centre) discuss the 2017 fundraiser project with WDF visitors.
Esperance Habinshuti is a 26-year old Kigali resident with big brown eyes and a slow, knowing smile. She also has type 1 diabetes, and spends much of her free time teaching others about the disease and how to manage it.
 
“When Esperence talks, people say, ‘When you speak about your disease, it almost sounds like fun,” says Crispin Gishoma, executive director of the Rwanda Diabetes Association (RDA). 
 

To defeat diabetes, start with the family

Meal preparation in India, where mothers-in-law traditionally have considerable say over household matters. Photos courtesy of WDF.
On November 14, many around the world will pause to mark World Diabetes Day. This year’s theme is The Family and Diabetes – and it is wisely chosen, I believe. Decades of work with anthropology and healthcare have convinced me that diabetes is truly a family issue.
 

ASHAs tackle sky-high diabetes rates in the Himalayas

ASHAs at work in Sikkim. ‘They are able to do things that more highly trained professionals may not have the time or access to do,’ says Dr Nerges F Mistry.
Tucked in between Bhutan, Tibet and Nepal, the Himalayan state of Sikkim includes India’s highest mountain, glaciers, alpine meadows and thousands of varieties of wildflowers. Its 610,000 residents also have one of India’s highest rates of diabetes and hypertension.