Diabetes
What We Do › Diabetes
“It's no coincidence that I am healthy and physically independent—I learned how to take control of my disease at the Diabetes Education Center. I am much more confident in my ability to judge the best way to regulate my blood sugar level and now enjoy a great deal of freedom and independence.”
Anton Startsev, a Type I diabetic who has learned to effectively manage his condition thanks to patient education classes offered by the Dubna Diabetes Education Center (established by AIHA's Dubna/La Crosse partners).
According to the International Diabetes Federation, diabetes is reaching epidemic proportions, with nearly 200 million people around the world living with the condition. Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia are currently home to some 24 million diabetics.
AIHA has played an important role in improving diabetes-related care since its first hospital-based partnerships were launched in 1992. In Russia, our Dubna/La Crosse partnership emerged as early pioneers in diabetes education and management, serving as a national replication model. Later, many of our community-based primary healthcare partnerships selected diabetes as a focus of their collaborative work to address the unique healthcare needs of their communities.
Projects
AIHA’s efforts to improve diabetes care and prevention through specific programmatic activities include:
Primary Healthcare Partnerships
One of the underlying tenets of primary care is prevention. In some cases, that means preventing a healthy person from contracting a disease while, in others, it means preventing an existing illness from getting worse. With this in mind, many AIHA primary healthcare partnerships have created diabetes care programs to teach people living with the condition how to effectively manage their blood sugar levels through proper diet, exercise, monitoring, and—if necessary—medication. Read more...
Russia Diabetes Disease Management Initiative (1993-1998)
In 1993, diabetes affected approximately 7 million people in Russia. Diabetes and its associated complications created enormous suffering, impaired workforce productivity, and placed significant financial burdens on Russia’s transitioning healthcare system. These factors prompted the Russian Ministry of Health to designate diabetes as an intervention priority for US-Russia collaboration under the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission Health Committee. The resulting Russia Diabetes Disease Management Initiative was modeled after the community-oriented approach successfully implemented in Dubna, Russia, by AIHA’s Dubna/La Crosse partnership. Read more...
Dubna (Russia)/La Crosse (Wisconsin) Partnership
AIHA’s partnerships and programs are driven by the needs of the communities they work to serve. By assessing the unique needs of the population in Dubna, Russia, for example, AIHA’s Dubna/La Crosse partners determined that diabetes was a significant problem among citizens in the community. They responded to this by creating the Dubna Diabetes Education Center to teach diabetics, their families, and local healthcare providers about a variety of lifestyle choices that can play an important part in the management of this disease. This resulted not only in patients taking a more active role in their own care, but also in radical changes in the attitudes and responsibilities of healthcare providers. Read more...
Diabetes Information Resources
Disseminating accurate, timely information rooted in evidence-based practices and sharing successful models and lessons learned plays an important role in AIHA’s strategy for sustainable healthcare programs. For more information about diabetes care and treatment, please visit the following links:
» EurasiaHealth Knowledge Network
» AIHA Clinical Practice Guidelines
» Articles
» AIHA Success Stories
» Other Resources
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