The estimated national prevalence of diabetes in Ivory Coast is 4.2%. The Ministry of Health (MoH) has introduced a national programme aimed at controlling metabolic disorders, a national nutrition programme, and a national programme for the control of NCDs. However, in spite of government willingness to address the issues of NCDs and diabetes, state resources have remained insufficient to implement the activities due to the on-going conflicts that have affected the country since 2002. Thus, diabetes care is nearly absent. Only two sites for diabetes care and treatment exist in the largest city Abidjan, inhabiting almost 3.5 million people. Most often, diabetes remains undiagnosed until the onset of severe complications such as ketoacidosis or diabetic foot ulcers. The two units in Abidjan that do provide diabetes care do not have the necessary capacity to respond adequately to the ever increasing occurrence of complications, and there is a pressing need for scaling up and decentralising diabetes care to reach remote areas. The aim of the project is to decentralise and improve diabetes care in ten regions of Ivory Coast
This project is initiated by Obesity and Diabetes Association of Côte de'Ivory, AODCI, in collaboration with the MoH. Since the establishment of AODCI in 2009, the organisation has conducted a number of screening campaigns throughout the country. Furthermore, AODCI has provided capacity-building to a number of health care providers at all levels of care, and established a micro-clinic delivering diabetes care to remote areas. This current project seeks to establish nine new micro-clinics, and reinforce the existing one, in order to increase coverage. All the clinics will be located within regional/university hospitals covering ten different regions. The clinics will be staffed by a nurse, a doctor and a dietician and be open for consultations daily. The project will train 20 doctors and nurses as trainers, who are responsible for training a cadre of 152 nurses, health care workers and dieticians. Furthermore, 70 doctors already trained under the MoH national programme, will be retrained in diabetes care. Through screening and awareness camps and radio/TV broadcasts, the project wishes to sensitise the general population towards diabetes. The camps will be held every six months, one each year coinciding with World Diabetes Day, and targeting both rural and urban populations. The broadcasts will take place every month and will focus on creating awareness of diabetes and on how to recognise signs and symptoms to ensure early care seeking. The established clinics will be embedded in existing health structures. Through strong partnerships with other stakeholders including the pharmaceutical laboratories and other local partners, the project activities will continue beyond project completion as the infrastructure and capacity building will already be in place.
- 11 diabetes micro-clinics established and equipped- 1 glycated haemoglobin apparatus procured and in function (micro-clinic of Dabou)- Manuel’s developed: ToT doctors, GPs, ToT Nurses, Nurses and nurse assistants and dieticians- 11 doctors and 11 nurses trained as ToT