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Life is sweet in Fiji: the availability of diabetes healthcare and health education, and diabetes awareness amongst diabetic patients in Fiji

2002; Wiley; Volume: 19; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/pdi.366

2047-2900

Jay Kuruvatti, Hermione Price,

Diabetes Management and Education

Abstract During an elective visit to Fiji we assessed the knowledge of diabetes possessed by patients who attended the hospital Diabetic Clinic in Lautoka. All the patients interviewed had type 2 diabetes and 15.4% were treated with insulin, 80.8% with oral therapy and 3.8% with diet alone. Blindness was the commonest complication known to patients but almost a quarter could not describe any diabetic complication. All patients had seen a hospital doctor regarding their diabetes; 17.9% also saw a private general practitioner, 80.8% had seen the diabetes nurse, 60.8% a dietician, and 57.7% a chiropodist. When asked about causative factors 12.8% thought diabetes was caused by overeating, 12.8% thought it was due to too much sugar in the diet, and the remaining 60.3% did not know. The methods by which the ever‐increasing financial burden of diabetes in Fiji can be reduced are discussed. We feel that the prevention of diabetes and the early detection of complications would be the most cost‐effective methods to improve overall diabetes care in Fiji. However, the whole diabetes care service in Fiji is constrained by the poor economic state of the country and the low profile of diabetes in the healthcare plans of the country. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.