Assuming that there is little known about diabetes disease within the poor communities, setting up a patient information centre takes time. To establish a patient information centre the following steps are taken:
Step 1: Detection of diabetes
Peer educators visit households to improve diabetes awareness. They hand out urine tests and make follow up visits the next day. People who have positive urine test, get a free blood glucose test from the peer educator. The screening activity helps to identify the number of people who are diabetic or pre-diabetic. If these people express interest in getting information and counselling, they can register with the patient information centre.
When diabetes symptoms become better known, people will approach MoPoTsyo patient information centres on their own initiative if they suspect they may have diabetes.
Step 2: Assistance for detected diabetics
The peer educators offer assistance to detected persons to be diagnosed with diabetes by a competent physician. Patients will receive coaching to get into the medical system in order to know what they need from the public service providers and can recognize them. If there is no regular medical Doctor available for this in the remote Public Hospital, then MoPoTsyo regularly sends a qualified Doctor there for its own members. Likewise, MoPoTsyo also facilitates the regular availability of prescription medication and even laboratory services. Peer Educators are key-organizers in making services available and making their members aware of when and where they can access them.
Step 3: establishment of diabetes user groups
Fixed locations inside the communities are equipped to create a meeting point for diabetes patients living in the same area. These locations are most often at the home of peer educators. Gatherings take place on a weekly basis, but they can be at other places, like a public health center which has fee space.
Step 4: Free training program for diabetics
Patients can benefit freely in MoPoTsyo’s training program and learn about diabetes. by peer educators. More about the training program at
Step 5: Support in appropriate medical treatment
Peer educators coach in setting realistic objectives on subjects which are relevant for disease control, especially body weight and blood pressure. Every diabetes patients learns how to detect high glucose levels by using urine tests. Low glucose levels can only be measured through the use of a blood glucose meter at the home of the peer educator. Progress of patients towards their own objectives is recorded by the patient or a family member. In the urban program the HBA1c values were measured for evaluation purposes. In the rural program, progress is assessed using fasting blood glucose tests. Every week during the gatherings in the patient information centres blood pressure is measured and recorded.
Step 6: stimulation of active membership in the diabetes user groups
Structured volunteer involvement in coaching and teaching of new patients is stimulated.