Improving Diabetic Foot Care

The project seeks to promote the development of four levels of care for diabetes and diabetic foot care in line with an approach adopted by Guyana's Ministry of Health. The approach includes the following components: (1) brief screening for risk status and referral carried out by community health workers; (2) nutritional and lifestyle education additional screening for risk status implementation of care plans for foot care and glycemic and blood pressure control carried out by health posts and health centres; (3) the creation of regional diabetic foot centres where plans for comprehensive prevention and treatment of diabetes and diabetic foot care are developed and carried out by inter-professional teams; and (4) the development of a centre of excellence at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation to provide leadership and training in comprehensive diabetic foot care. The project is also developing a base of local trainers creating educational resources for trainees to address gender issues in the prevention and treatment of diabetes and educating local partners on how to properly dispose solid waste.

Results achieved as of the end of the project (June 2013) include: (i) teams of local key opinion leaders provided training to 275 health care professionals (including doctors nurses rehabilitation assistants and community health workers) in 97 facilities ; (ii) seven regional diabetic centres were set up by renovating existing facilities and supplying toolkits and essential equipment to provide specialized diabetic foot care for high-risk patients and patients with ulcers; (iii) through inter-professional training courses a base of local trainers was developed; (iv) educational resources such as guides on the prevention and management of clinical practices including surveillance and supervision tools for trainees to address gender issues in the prevention and treatment of diabetes were developed; and (v) local partners were educated on how to properly dispose of solid waste.