West Bank and Gaza is experiencing a transition in life style from rural to urban which is associated with an increase in sedentary life style and disease burden. The problem is further complicated by a large part of the population are living in refugee camps. The International Diabetes Federation estimates 6.6 % of the population to be living with diabetes and 76,650 people adults to be living with undiagnosed diabetes. Studies have, however, estimated the national diabetes prevalence to be even higher and UNRWA has recently published obesity prevalence up to 80 % in refugee camps. The current health care system in West Bank and Gaza is not very functional in diabetes care and UNRWA is a major health provider in the area with a clinic in every refugee camp and serves 35 % of the population in West Bank and 70 % of the population in Gaza. The project will seek to improve accessibility to the Diabetes Comprehensive Care Model (DCCM) in disadvantaged communities/regions in the West Bank and Gaza
The project builds upon the experienced gained in the previous project collaborations between the World Diabetes Foundation, DanChuchAid and Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH). The Diabetes Comprehensive Care Model was established during these projects and has been a great success. A mobile unit will be set up as an outreach diabetes clinic. The mobile clinic will offer comprehensive diabetes care including GDM, eye care/laser treatment, foot care, nutrition counselling as well as training of health professionals. The clinic will undertake regular visits to the most relevant southern communities of West Bank. Collection of data on diabetes and referrals will also be part of the mobile clinic’s workflow. It is estimated that around 600,000 people will benefit from the mobile clinic. Systematic training in accordance with the national protocol to diabetes care will be undertaken for health care professionals in rural areas during visits by the mobile unit. The health care professionals will also be offered to visit the AVH centre in Jerusalem for training. Promotion of healthy lifestyle will be done through a number of activities; some during visits of the mobile clinic with dissemination of educational material and others done annually associated with the world diabetes day. These will include both news spots on TV and radio, news article, hand-outs etc. To ensure sustainability and quality assurance the AVH centre will also be strengthened. The AVH centre functions as a national referral centre for advanced diabetes care and as backup and support for activities in communities and local clinics as well as an on-going training of local front line partners visited by the mobile clinic. A final goal is to get the DCCM implemented into a partner clinic in Gaza on a pilot basis. The clinic in Gaza will therefore be equipped with diabetes equipment and training of the staff will be undertaken. Awareness activities will also be held in the Gaza region.
• 1 mobile unit procured • 476 visits were done to 117 locations by the mobile clinic• 4,049 people living with diabetes screened • 255 health professionals trained