Thousands screened in charity trip to Ghana

More than 4,000 people underwent type 2 diabetes screenings during a voluntary trip to Ghana.

Anna Vanderpuye, a Senior Diabetes Specialist Nurse from the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, travelled to the West African nation to raise awareness about diabetes on World Diabetes Day.

During the trip, a total of 4,257 people were screened for type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.

Anna also worked in partnership with one of the Ghanaian radio stations called the Sweet Melodies, which allowed her to promote her work and encourage people to attend one of her free clinics.

She said: “People who heard the programme on the radio came along [to the clinic] and we screened and distributed insulin to some.

“It was a humbling experience because the number of people whom we found to be living with diabetes and raised blood pressure and did not know was frightening.”

Alongside her clinical role, Anna is the Founder of the Diabetes Outreach Prevention Programmes International (DOPPSI) – an organisation dedicated to providing education on prevention, early diagnosis and access to treatment of diabetes in the UK and worldwide.

“We paid our plane fares ourselves and used our annual leave to travel for these programmes,” said Anna.

She added: “I brought blood pressure medications for people whose blood pressure were so high. Some said they ran out of medications, so I used some of my holiday money to help get them.

“I want to say thank you God for the opportunity to help my generation. I want to say thank you to the DOPPSI volunteers especially those who travelled with me.”

DOPPSI continues to appeal to the diabetes community to donate blood glucose monitors, strips, HbA1c monitors, lipids monitors and their consumables.