Nurses takes to the streets on World Diabetes Day!

 

3,5 million people in South Africa are suffering from diabetes. However, this number is in reality much higher since it’s estimated that more then 50% of people are unaware they have the illness and have never been diagnosed. This is one of the major tasks that the HOPE Centre is tackling on a daily basis. To this end, on World Diabetes Day (14th November), the nurses will take to the streets in the fight against diabetes!

Diabetes – One of the most dangerous illnesses in South Africa
Around 60 people die every day from Diabetes in South Africa. This is according to Statistics South Africa. South Africa does not even feature in the list of top ten countries for Diabetes prevalence, yet the rate of people dying because of the illness on the continent is far higher than in the countries with higher prevalance. Many deaths and complications could be avoided if people went for screening and if people sought health care earlier. South Africa's high death rate is caused by lack of access to insulin and to medical professionals that are specialised in treating Diabetes. But also, numbers would come right down if people had a higher level of awareness and practiced healthier lifestyles.

Project HOPE never stops screening
On Saturday the 14^th of November the HOPE Centre staff along with Empilweni Nursing College, community leaders, volunteers from local organisations and Right to Care (an HIV Counseling & Testing Organization) will take to the streets once again to promote public awareness of diabetes and hypertension, educate patients, perform demonstrations and encourage all residents to test, prevent and manage this life-threatening illness.

Hard to recognise - serious complications

The majority of people in South Africa have type 2 diabetes, however many of these cases go undiagnosed as there are very few symptoms initially. Symptoms for diabetes include fatigue, excessive thirst and urination, slow wound healing and skin infections, blurred vision and regular bouts of thrush. As these symptoms can be very mild and develop gradually, many people fail to recognise them as warning signs of diabetes.

Diabetes complications are serious and include heart disease, stroke, blindness, amputations and kidney failure. In most cases these complications could have been avoided entirely by early diagnosis and proper treatment.

Related links:

International Diabetes Federation

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New Staff start with Project HOPE

 Project HOPE in South Africa welcomes two new staff to its senior management team to help with the HOPE Centre project:

Lebo Molete, our new Program Officer has an extensive background in social policy and health having previously worked in the UK and South Africa. He has a particular interest in non-communicable diseases and  was the founding member of a local NGO called PHELA (Public Health Education Liaison and Advocacy Project) which seeks to improve the quality of life of patients with chronic diseases through patient education and support groups.  Lebo is currently completing a Masters degree in Public Health.

Carol Diplock, our new Manager of Operations and Finance comes from having spent 15 years working for a leading UK charity called Voluntary Service Oversees (VSO) as their Office Manager having established their office in South Africa and assisting with the opening of their office in Mozambique.

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Sponsor a Screening Day

To launch the HOPE Centre project we would like to run 3 community screening events - one in Zandspruit, one in Cosmo City and one in Kya Sand. These screening events will be publicised on the local radio station, through the local clinic and through other "bush communication" mechanisms! We anticipate to do these at the end of March.

The aim of the screening days is to first help raise awareness in these communities about the growing risks of non-communicable disease. Second is to identify people who are at risk of developing an NCD so that we can prevent its onset. Finally to be able to refer people who need follow up investigation to our new clinic and the new set of services that it will bring to these communities.

During the screening days we will have a nurse and a couple of community health workers who will take blood pressure, BMI and blood glucose as well as provide some basic health and nutrition education. It is anticipated that at each screening we will screen between 300-400 people.

However we need your help. Each individual screening costs $3.50 (2.30 GBP) which includes the nurses time, medical supplies and health materials.In addition we need to purchase a Gazebo and portable table and chairs that can be used. Therefore we are looking to raise a total of $5,000 (3,333 GBP) to cover these costs.

Please would you consider donating to this great cause A $100 donation could screen 29 people!

For people wanting to donate in the USA, please click on the gift catalogue link. This takes you to our giving catalogue page where you can fill out your details.

For people in the UK, please contact me directly - slawson@projecthope.org. We have made arrangements so that you can "gift aid" your donation.

**Please note that 100% of your donation will come directly to South Africa to help fund these screening days.**

I look forward to keeping in touch and posting some pictures of our screening days up on the blog very soon! Thanks for reading!

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