Fundraiser launched to improve diabetes care in Sierra Leone

A recognised nursing group has launched a national campaign to raise £5,000 in a bid to help healthcare teams in Sierra Leone purchase ‘lifesaving’ diabetes resources.

The Diabetes Specialist Nurse (DSN) Forum UK is on a mission to equip healthcare professionals in the West African country with vital diabetes supplies that they short of, such as test strips, footcare dressings, insulin, blood glucose meters, needles and monofilaments to detect neuropathy.

Working with the charity Help Madina, the DSN Forum has organised a healthcare worker visit to Sierra Leone next year to educate the local staff on new diabetes treatments.

A grant from the Transpetrol Foundation has funded the trip, however the DSN Forum is now looking to raise funds in order to also provide healthcare professionals in Sierra Leone with essential recourses that will transform the lives of people living with diabetes.

The nursing group has also set up a Just Giving page to raise awareness about Help Madina – a charity striving to improve the health and wellbeing of the people living in the Madina district and throughout Sierra Leone, which is one of the poorest parts of the world.

Diabetes is a global concern, which many organisations, including the World Health Organisation, have highlighted as an evolving catastrophe.

The number of type 2 diabetes cases in sub-Saharan Africa is rising dramatically and the complications of this condition cause enormous human suffering and premature death.

New cases of diabetes are being detected every week and the hospital now has hundreds of people living with diabetes registered.

There is huge concern and fear within the local community about diabetes and there is lots of misinformation, with some even believing that diabetes is caused by witchcraft.

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