Mobile diabetes clinic combined foot – Eye care training programme, Vietnam

Objectives

Vietnam is one of the 21 countries and territories of the IDF WP region. It has an estimated population of 95 million with 64 provinces with three different geographic regions. In Vietnam, along with social and economic development, type 2 diabetes has become a public health concern. According to national studies the rate of type 2 diabetes has increased rapidly not only in urban regions but also in rural areas. It is estimated that there were 3.5 million cases of diabetes in Vietnam in 2015, and the prevalence of diabetes ranges from 5.7% in people aged 30 to 64. The rate in urban areas is estimated from about 10.0% up to 12.0%.

The objective of this project was to improve diabetes foot and eye care capacity in Vietnam through an intervention with nationwide coverage through setting up mobile clinics and training health care professionals on diabetic foot care and eyes care.

Approach

Capacity building within foot care: comprehensive training of HCPs already working with diabetes at provincial level incl. technical support to establish and equip foot clinics at their health care facility after training.

Capacity building within eye care: comprehensive training of ophthalmologists, doctors and nurses already working at provincial level with diabetes/diabetes eye care. Trained HCPs to form expert eye care network at provincial/district level to support integration of eye care at existing care.

Mobile unit: purchasing and equipping of a mobile unit with foot care equipment, retinal digital camera and laboratory equipment. Mobile unit to be systematically deployed across targeted provinces and linked with targeted HCPs and clinics. Trained expert teams (specialists) will operate the mobile unit.

Roll-out of health services: screening for diabetic foot and eye complications conducted at local clinics and by mobile unit. Patients requiring further specialist care will be referred to local specialists or to Hanoi if needed.

Results at completion

1 mobile diabetes clinic was set up for screening foot and eye complications
35 provincial foot–eye care units established, 82 diabetes foot care teams and 1,012 HCPs trained
12,550 diabetes patients trained on foot self-care and prevention.
8,247 patients reached through eye care education.
57,027 diabetes patients screened for foot problems
732 HCPs trained on eye care and education
57,351 patients reached via awareness activities
7,862 patients screened for diabetes retinopathy.
Software to manage eye and foot complications developed