Improving education for healthcare workers and the public to curb the growing epidemic of diabetes
As diabetes cases are rising in developing countries at an alarming rate, ensuring better diabetes education for healthcare professionals, people living with the disease and the public is critical to addressing the rising burden posed by the disease. World Diabetes Day on 14 November provides an opportunity to strengthen advocacy on this rising public health issue and the importance of ensuring improved prevention, diagnosis, and management of the condition. The theme for this year’s World Diabetes Day “Education to Protect Tomorrow” highlights the need for greater education for both healthcare workers to be able to better detect and diagnose the condition early and provide care, as well as for people living with diabetes to improve their self-management and avoid complications.
Diabetes on the rise
Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), such as cardiovascular diseases (including heart attacks and stroke), cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes, kill 41 million people each year. One in ten people have diabetes and the prevalence of diabetes has been steadily rising in low and middle-income countries, which are also less equipped to provide screening facilities and treatment. In Sri Lanka, about 8% of adults are living with diabetes, and the condition poses a significant burden to public health as the 13th leading cause of death in the country in 2019 (Sri Lanka Annual Health Bulletin, 2019).
“Diabetes is on the rise in Sri Lanka and adults living with diabetes are at a higher risk of heart attacks, strokes, and other health complications including kidney failure,” says Dr Alaka Singh, WHO Representative to Sri Lanka. “While access to affordable treatment is instrumental towards managing complications, education of patients and training of health staff is key to early diagnosis, reducing the prevalence of diabetes and alleviating the burden on an overstretched healthcare system given the current economic crisis.”
Scaling-up efforts in diabetes prevention and control
Fortunately, the projected rise in cases of diabetes is preventable through efforts aimed at increasing the adoption of healthy lifestyles by paying strong attention to healthy diets and physical activity in the community. WHO has spearheaded several initiatives to mobilise global efforts integrating best practices to reduce the risk of diabetes to ensure that people with the condition have access to affordable, high quality and comprehensive treatment and care. A landmark resolution was passed at the World Health Assembly in May 2021 which recommends action in several areas including integration of prevention and treatment of diabetes in primary healthcare; promotion of improved convergence of regulatory requirements for diabetes medicines and technologies; and enhanced diabetes monitoring and surveillance. Best practices encapsulated within WHO strategies need to be scaled up at the country level to ensure improved implementation of evidence-based, cost-effective, targeted and multisectoral approaches to reduce the burden posed by NCDs.
Strengthening national efforts on diabetes control
WHO Sri Lanka is a long-term partner of the Ministry of Health in driving collaborative efforts on diabetes prevention and control through advocacy, technical assistance as well as delivery of essential medicines to support more equitable access to healthcare as part of crisis response efforts.
WHO has supported Sri Lanka to develop and implement comprehensive and targeted capacity-building programmes for healthcare workers. WHO facilitated training for healthcare workers on the prevention of NCDs and integrating NCD care at the primary healthcare level has helped drive improvements in the screening for NCDs and diabetes management. Additionally, twelve modules of the HEARTS training package (a strategic training course targeted at strengthening cardiovascular disease (CVD) management in primary healthcare settings) have been adopted in Sri Lanka to enhance the clinical management of diabetes and related complications. The first round of training was attended by 45 hospital health workers across all districts and positive feedback was received on the structure and content of the training. An online training module has also been developed with WHO support which covers integral areas such as access to essential medicines and technologies, risk-based CVD management and evidence-based protocols to guide healthcare workers in enhancing delivery of CVD services in primary healthcare settings.
WHO provided technical assistance to develop guidelines on the management of diabetes providing valuable guidance for healthcare workers in secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities. Technical support to revise the Multi-Sectoral Action Plan on NCDs (2016-2022), and ongoing support to the Ministry of Health to raise advocacy with stakeholders to implement WHO best buys and prioritized interventions outlined in the plan will set the direction for national diabetes control efforts going forward.
WHO has also supported the Ministry of Health’s efforts in conducting education and communication campaigns aimed at reducing the consumption of sugary drinks to halt the rise in diabetes. Sri Lanka introduced a colour code regulation for sugar-sweetened beverages in 2017, where traffic light colours are used to denote sugar content, in a bid to curb consumption of such beverages as advocated by WHO. Building on the success of this initiative, the Ministry introduced a traffic light colour coding for front-of-pack labelling of sugar, salt and trans fats in prepackaged foods as a key step towards inspiring the public to make conscious decisions towards healthy diets.
“Complementing the traffic light colour coding system with a rigorous and targeted communications campaign was imperative to educating the public and bringing about behavioural changes towards a healthy lifestyle,” explains Dr Samiddhi Samarakoon, Director, NCD, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka. “We need to maintain this momentum and increase education efforts from the school level onwards to promote a healthier lifestyle and tackle diabetes.”
As Sri Lanka looks ahead there is a pressing need for improved diabetes education to reverse the rising tide of diabetes. Improving access to quality and up-to-date diabetes education is critical for healthcare professionals as they work towards early detection and providing better care to people living with the condition to avoid serious life-threatening complications. WHO Sri Lanka is a committed partner to the Government in supporting the country's efforts to address diabetes, including increasing investment in diabetes education, to make a real change for those living with the condition.
For more information:
Fact sheet on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs): https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/noncommunicable-diseases
Fact sheet on Diabetes: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/diabetes