A new initiative to combat diabetes in Africa is now using university students to help reduce incidences of the condition on the continent. Students involved in the project, known as the Capacity Advancement Program, are chosen from the University of Nairobi in Kenya, Makerere University in Uganda and the University of Namibia.

Merck Serono, the biopharmaceutical division of pharmaceutical giant Merck, made the program possible with an educational grant, and the program will initially be conducted at the three universities.

Diabetes, a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar, has become a serious health concern in Africa. In Kenya it is estimated that 1.6 million people suffer from the condition, a figure projected to increase to 2.5 million by 2025.

Students involved in this initiative benefit by gaining advanced professional knowledge on the high incidence of the disease. Hopefully, the program will improve the health sector throughout Africa by influencing faculty leaders at these universities, and helping to prevent diabetes from becoming an epidemic on the continent.

The project will focus on clinical research, supply chain integrity and efficiency, and public awareness on how to prevent the disease and manage it. It will also offer support for establishing education programs, such as accredited clinical diabetes management training at the university level, which will target medical undergraduates.

In the coming years, the program will expand to include medical education for health care providers in rural areas. "The University of Nairobi is ready to work with other institutions whose objectives are directed at alleviating challenges in the provision of health care, especially for emerging health conditions in Africa, such as diabetes," said Professor Isaac Kibwage, Principal of the College of Health at the University of Nairobi.

He added that there is a need to transform the health sector in the country to provide quality, accessible and equitable health care that will in turn boost economic growth, which is critical for lifting Kenya into a middle income country. According to Kenya's Ministry of Health, 90 percent of people affected by the disease are between 18 and 60 years old, which is a core productive age group.

Professor C. Opio, a senior lecturer at Makerere University, welcomed the move, saying it will provide scientific knowledge useful for diabetes healthcare providers, especially in rural areas. "Training in clinical diabetes management for medical undergraduates will help prevent the condition from becoming widespread in Africa, but equally important is the fact that the campaign will target the rural areas which have difficulty acquiring information about the disease," he said.

According to WHO statistics, non-communicable diseases account for 38 percent of all deaths. On the other hand, cardiovascular diseases, including diabetes, account for 19 percent of deaths in Namibia.

One of the challenges facing diabetes treatment on the continent has been the lack of awareness about the disease and its symptoms. Patients end up being diagnosed very late, when they are already experiencing complications like blindness, foot ulcers, heart complications and gangrene. The project's leaders are hoping that the university students will pass on accurate and important information about diabetes to the public. This program will thereby help improve people's health through preventive measures, which experts say is a more cost-effective way to deal with the condition, as opposed to treatment.

Kenya was chosen as the launch pad for the project in Africa since it is the only country on the continent to have formulated Diabetes Strategy in collaboration with the International Diabetes Foundation. According to the supporters of this initiative, about 5 percent of the country's population will suffer from diabetes by the year 2025. CA

(Reporting from Kenya)