mothers2mothers – Highlighting World Diabetes Day [Video]

Today is World Diabetes Day—a day dedicated to increasing awareness of diabetes management and prevention. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the prevalence of diabetes has nearly doubled since 1980, with an estimated 24 million people living with the noncommunicable disease (NCD) in the African region in 2021. With this year’s theme focused on “Access to Diabetes Care”, mothers2mothers (m2m) has been increasingly supporting the communities we work with across sub-Saharan Africa to ensure screenings and treatment for diabetes and other primary health care services are more accessible to vulnerable women and their families.

This is critical because NCDs like diabetes and hypertension are prevalent in settings of marginalisation or poverty, and HIV infection increases the risk of many NCDs. To address the growing health needs of the community, Mentor Mothers—women living with HIV employed by m2m as community health workers—at m2m’s Innovation Hubbased at the Ikhwezi Community Health Centre in Cape Town, are trained to conduct …