First partial success

 

Diabetic pro

The non-governmental organisation “Diabetic pro“ was founded in Rodrigues in 2012 as a local “sister” organisation of the Swiss Diabetes Charity Organisation for Rodrigues. The members of the NGO “Diabetic pro” are volunteer workers with the aim to “Fight against Diabetes” and make awareness about the disease. They are supported by the Swiss Team. The members of “Diabetic pro” are doctors, nursing personal, volunteers called Agents de Santé and further supporters.

Agents de Santé

“Agents de Santé” in English “Agents of Health” are volunteers from different villages who assist the rural population in remote areas. They are the link between the medical services and the rural population. They also receive some training on Diabetes and Hypertension from the Swiss team. They contribute in the prevention and awareness of the disease and its complications.

Medical Doctors in Rodrigues

At the onset of this project, there were only one Rodriguan doctor permanently working in Rodrigues and she was assisted by temporary doctors from Mauritius who normally stayed only for short period of times in Rodrigues. Therefore we allowed the Rodriguan Medical students who were still studying in Mauritius to come over as from 2013 to assist our programme in Rodrigues and be trained. This was a huge advantage as they will be back and could share their knowledge to the Rodriguan population.

Training of Podiatrists

There had been no podiatric treatment in Rodrigues. Through further training of two professional nurses in the hospital, people with diabetes-related foot problems can now avail to podiatric treatment and thus prevent complications.

Children with Type I Diabetes

Type I Diabetes, which affects mostly children and young adults, has about the same occurrence rate in Rodrigues as in the rest of the world. Through the empowerment of the children and family and more awareness of the diabetes, a big improvement in the medical care of these patients has been made. The children and their parents are now also being trained and have received their own glucometers. Hence they can better regulate their diabetes treatment and avoid hypoglycaemia, which is particularly dangerous.

Patient Groups

The residents of the island live in different villages. Communication between the villages is limited due to restricted mobility. However, there is great cohesion within the individual villages. In order to foster knowledge transfer into the villages, patient groups were formed and trained in self-management of diabetes. These trained people can assist others suffering from diabetes within their own villages.