Management of type 2 diabetes in subsaharan Africa: update and perspective
Carmoi, T.; Verret, C.; Debonne, J.M.; Klotz, E.
Medecine Tropicale Revue du Corps de Sante Colonial 67(6): 601-606
2007
ISSN/ISBN: 0025-682X PMID: 18300523 Document Number: 608125
Management of type II diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa presents a number of aspects that must be analyzed successively. Regarding the continent of Africa, implementing a strategy to control diabetes will require extensive information and education campaigns not only for health care workers but also for the general population as well as the creation of adequate infrastructure to optimize the availability of treatment. Regarding care modalities in Africa, the overall principles of management are the same as anywhere in the world. However these modalities must be adapted to the sociocultural environment of the patient. Objectives must be simplified without compromising the scientific requirements. Regarding patients, African perceptions about the disease are very different from those taught in Western schools. The different ethnocultural components of the disease must be recognized in order to optimize overall patient management.