About 170 healthcare professionals from diabetes care centres in four regions are to benefit from a three-month training programme to improve diabetes care and management across the country.
Being rolled out by the Ministry of Health (MoH) in partnership with Sanofi, a multinational health company programme would equip the health workforce with relevant skills needed to prevent complications of diabetes and to ensure its efficient management to reduce prevalence.
The diabetes care centres are located in the Greater Accra Region, Sunyani, Tamale and Kumasi in the Bono, Northern and Ashanti Regions respectively where out of the number, 80 primary care doctors would receive mentorship on diabetes management under the programme.
Head of the National Diabetes Management and Research Centre, Dr Yacoba Atiase speaking at the launch, said capacity building of health staff on diabetes was critical to control the disease burden in Ghana.
According to her, despite a World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation of a 1:1000 doctor-patient ratio, Ghana continue to struggle to meet the target with a current 1:5000 ratio amidst mass exodus of healthcare professionals.
Even so, she said only 30 doctors nationwide had advanced specialist training in diabetes care and management, despite over 3.2 million people living with the condition among the populace.
"This is way below the belt which is why capacity training is critical now than ever. How we used to treat diabetes is different from what pertains now and if we don't build capacity, we will be using obsolete strategies to manage the condition and that could have dire repercussions," she noted.
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Dr Atiase mentioned areas the training would cover including pre-diabetes and diabetes diagnosis, diabetes lifestyle interventions, insulin therapy, diabetes self-care and psychological care, adding that Sanofi would provide access to affordable insulin and basic medical equipment as well as a patient mobile application to educate diabetes patients.
She entreated beneficiaries to endeavour to complete the training and pass on knowledge acquired to others in the field, to control the diabetes epidemic in the country.
The Director, Technical Coordination at the MOH, Dr Baffour Awuah who launched the programme indicated that, it formed part of the three-year memorandum of understanding between the government and Sanofi to improve access to diabetes care and management and reduce its prevalence.
He said the launch of policies on non-communicable disease (NCD) and diabetes care and management was indicative of the government commitment to control the epidemics and ensure a healthy population.
"This training will deepen the management of diabetes to ensure level specific care for patients and prevent complications of the disease among Ghanaians," he noted.
A Consultant Physician and Endocrinologist, Dr Ernest Yorke said the inadequate resources to handle all facets of diabetes care remained a challenge in its treatment and management.
"Government cannot shoulder the burden alone and the NHIS doesn't cover all aspects of managing the disease therefore partnerships like this are timely to support measures already in place to save the lives of our people," he stated.
