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.

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.