Pharma is giving money for diabetes.
Jamie
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Myanmar to implement four-year diabetes program
Myint Kay Thi
Myanmar Times
Tuesday, 14 March 2017
The Ministry of Health and Sports together with the Novo Nordisk Company have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to implement the Myanmar Diabetes Care Program from 2017 to 2020.
The signing ceremony of the MoU, held yesterday at the Chatrium Hotel in Yangon, was attended by Dr Myint Htwe, Minister for Health and Sports. During the ceremony, Novo Nordisk Company announced that US$1.2 million will be used to implement the four-year program in Myanmar.
The Myanmar Diabetes Care Program will focus on four areas including improving diabetes care for children, setting up the Centre of Excellence in Diabetes, running diabetes education programs and setting up a diabetes registry.
Commenting that diabetes is one of the major issues in Myanmar, Dr Myint Htwe said that the budget earmarked for non-communicable diseases like diabetes is lower than for communicable diseases, resulting in people not having complete awareness of the symptoms of diabetes.
Henrik Bendix Dahl, Director of Novo Nordisk South East Asia, said that the diabetes program will provide free access to diabetes care and insulin for 800 children with type 1 diabetes.
A total of 2000 doctors and nurses will also be given capacity training about diabetes in this four-year program.
Henrik Bendix Dahl said that every year, more than 60,000 people in Myanmar die from diabetes-related health problems.
“The risk of diabetes can be lowered if a person is diagnosed at an early stage,” he said.
The Myanmar Diabetes Care Program (MDCP) will introduce a registry system which the Ministry of Health and Sports can use to monitor the burden of diabetes in Myanmar more closely.
Dr U Ko Ko, Program Manager (Diabetes) from the Ministry of Health and Sports, said that the MDCP will focus on educating doctors, nurses, midwives and members of the public at tertiary and secondary-level hospitals. They will also work closely with Yangon General Hospital, University of Medicine 2 and Mandalay General Hospital.
“An average of 500 doctors, nurses and midwives will be trained by the program in a year. The program will cover 40 townships in four years,” said Dr U Ko Ko.
He added that children with diabetes will be provided free health screening, and diagnosis and treatment will also be borne by the MDCP.
“And we will educate the family and patients about diabetes.
“The program aims to help 200 children in a year, to reach out to 800 children in four years.”
Under the MDCP, a clinic for children with diabetes will open in Yangon and the Mandalay Children’s hospitals offering free services.
“Five per cent of the population has type 1 diabetes,” said Dr Ko Ko.
According to the National Health Survey on Diabetes Mellitus and Risk Factors for Non-Communicable Disease in Myanmar 2014, the prevalence of diabetes is 10.5 percent of the population who are between 25 to 65 years of age.
Dr U Ko Ko said that according to the 2014 survey, the prevalence of diabetes is 9pc in rural areas and 14pc in urban areas. According to the survey, Yangon has the highest number of diabetes.
The MDCP program will be implemented with the support of the Ministry of Health and Sports, Myanmar Diabetes Association, Myanmar Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Myanmar Medical Association, Myanmar Paediatric Association and various leading hospitals across the country.
http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/yangon/25303-myanmar-to-implement-four-year-diabetes-program.html
