DOH CALABARZON staff and participants of the 4th Batch of “Training on Diabetes Management Using Insulin” held in Pasay City, Manila. A t...
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| DOH CALABARZON staff and participants of the 4th Batch of “Training on Diabetes Management Using Insulin” held in Pasay City, Manila. A total of 120 health workers including doctors and nurses were trained. |
DOH - CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) yesterday successfully concluded the fourth batch of “Training on Diabetes Management Using Insulin” for health workers to provide them the appropriate knowledge of insulin, including safe prescription, effective clinical use and understanding how different insulins work.
“The objective is to ensure the appropriate provision of quality clinical interventions and services for lifestyle-related NCDs like diabetes in the community and to equip health workers with the skills to help reduce insulin-related errors in the management of patients with diabetes,” Regional Director Eduardo C. Janairo stated.
“We need to provide our health workers who are the first line responders at the Rural Health Units (RHUs) the proper knowledge in insulin administration to avoid delays in the treatment and management of diabetic patients who resides in the provinces,” he added.
In 2013, the Philippine Health Statistics showed the country as the top 15 with diabetes prevalence worldwide, top 8 for impaired glucose tolerance prevalence worldwide and the top 7 leading cause of death among Filipinos. There are 6% prevalence of diabetes in the country with 51,127 deaths related to diabetes and 25% of these are in the working age group.
According to the study conducted by Philippine Society of Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism (PSEDM) in 2016, there are 3.5 million adults with diabetes, 1.8 million of them are undiagnosed and from this figure, 65.6% of Filipino women adults are obese and at risk. Only 15% achieve the standards of medical care in diabetes target of HbA1c <7%. It is also estimated about 60% of end-stage renal disease is caused by diabetes. Newly diagnosed diabetes patients in Metro Manila showed a high prevalence of complications.
Janairo added that diabetes is also the 5th leading cause of disability in the country. “Diabetes is a progressive disease and we are spending more than 20.4 billion pesos in treating it and its complications with an annual cost of more than 295 thousand pesos annually per patient and this can be significantly reduced through an effective blood glucose control using insulin.”
Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that allows the body to use sugar (glucose) from carbohydrates in the food that we eat for energy. It helps keep the blood sugar level from getting too high (hyperglycemia) or too low (hypoglycemia). It is administered through injection using a syringe or an insulin pen.
DOH-Calabarzon Medical Officer III, Dr. Marilou R. Espiritu and head of the Non-Communicable Disease Cluster emphasized that the training is in support of the DOH's Insulin Access Program (IAP) under the Medicine Access Program (MAP) with the objective of providing access to affordable insulin products medicine accessible for diabetic patients.
A total of 120 health workers including nurses, provincial and municipal and health officers, non-communicable disease (NCD) coordinators from various provinces of the region were successfully trained.
Janairo assured that the regional office will conduct similar trainings for doctors and nurses
of district hospitals in CALABARZON.
