NingXia Diabetes Primary Care Project, China

Objectives

The prevalence of diabetes in China has grown rapidly in the last 20 years and according to recent figures from the International Diabetes Federation there were about 110 million people with diabetes in China in 2015, ranking it first in the world. Diabetes has thus become one of the primary threats to people’s health in China.

Western China constitutes the most underdeveloped part of the country and most rural doctors lack systematic specialist training in diabetes prevention and treatment. It is therefore important to improve the ability to diagnose and treat diabetes at the primary care level in western China.

Objectives
1. Improvement of diabetes care at primary level.
2. Improvement in identification of diabetes patients and patients with complications.
3. Training of patients and establishment of diabetes patients peer support groups.
4. Implementation of a regional diabetes information management (e-health) platform.

Approach

The project is implemented in Jingyuan county and Hongsipu district (total population of 315,000) in Ningxia Province. Primary level diabetes care will be improved through training of HCPs from 223 primary health units in prevention and care of diabetes, which will include an increased focus on screening for diabetes at community level and screening for complications among known diabetes patients. The sustainability of trainings will be assured through the establishment of two training bases at local hospitals that will focus on continuous re-trainings of staff as well as training of new staff.

Improvement in knowledge and management of diabetes among patients will be ensured by training of patients through establishment of health education stations to convene regular education sessions and lectures on diabetes and complications. These learnings will be sustained through establishment of diabetes patients peer support groups.

Finally, the project is implementing a regional diabetes information management (e-health) platform that will be rolled out among all 223 health units involved in the project. The platform will improve patient registration and follow up at the health units and ensure that referral systems are improved. The project will serve as a pilot and it is expected that the information management system can eventually be expanded to cover all other health facilities in Ningxia Province.

Results at completion

Training manual and referral system adopted.
2 training bases for education of HCPs established.
1,400 HCPs from 120 health stations trained.
13,205 patients with diabetes / at risk of diabetes trained.
12,896 people screened for diabetes.
3,319 patients with diabetes screened for complications.
19 health education stations for diabetes patients established.
58 diabetes peer support groups established.