Dubai: The Ministry of Health and Prevention, MoHAP, has launched a Drive-in awareness-raising initiative that aims to improve the quality of life of diabetics and their coexistence with the disease. It has also launched the Diabetes Prevention Programme to provide education and training on diabetes-related healthy habits.
The two initiatives come in conjunction with World Diabetes Day, being observed on Saturday, under the theme “The role of nursing staff in supporting diabetes”, where the nursing staff represents more than half of the global health workforce and they make great efforts in supporting patients with diabetes.
Empowerment of patients
Dr. Hussein Abdel Rahman Al-Rand, Undersecretary of the Ministry’s Health Assistant Sector, Health Centers and Clinics, said: “The two initiatives come as part of MoHAP’s efforts to provide innovative preventive and therapeutic services within the programmes of developing the national strategy to combat non-communicable diseases and to reduce diabetes rate in the country and to highlight the effective role of the nursing staff in caring for patients and enabling them to control diabetes, reduce its complications and limit its spread.”
Innovative health services
He went on to say: “In 2017, MoHAP has developed non-communicable disease clinics and have integrated them into the primary health care centres to deliver high-quality services for diabetic patients through multidisciplinary teams, in accordance with the updated national scientific evidence and international standards. This is in addition to launching a smart app to follow up on diabetics and prediabetes patients and to elevate their awareness about healthy lifestyles and maintenance of blood glucose levels.”
Two-phase programme
Dr. Fadila Mohamed Sherif, Director of MoHAP’s Health Education & Promotion Department, said: “The programme aims to enhance awareness of the importance of prevention by increasing participants’ awareness of diabetes and helping them reduce at least 5 per cent of their weight.”
“The two-phase programme is centred on the visitors to the primary health care centers, where the lab test results have found that they are in the adult prediabetes stage. The first phase includes virtual awareness-raising workshops, while the second phase will be focusing on following up on the health status of the participants in the programme to ensure quality,” she added.
Dr. Sumaya Al Balushi, Director of Nursing Department, said: “Through the e-clinic nurse education service, about 80 individual educational sessions were provided by specialised nurses for diabetes patients, who were referred by their attending physicians to create individual plans for each patient to improve the quality of life and enhance healthy practices.”
Community initiative
“We’re glad to collaborate with the Ministry of Health in launching the “Drive in” initiative to improve the quality of life of patients with diabetes and provide them with a full-fledged treatment journey, in cooperation with health care professionals and health authorities,” said Mads Larsen, Vice-President and General Manager, Novo Nordisk Pharma Gulf.
