By NKeiruka Ugo | Project Leader
Over a three month period, the number of participants with systolic blood pressures above 170, decreased by 160%, and participants with systolic blood pressures less than 140, increased by 36%. The numbers in between also showed similar trend of more people with decreasing blood pressures.
In August I gave a tailored dietary education to all participants with blood sugars greater than 200. This is something I've been doing all along, but this time I told them a concrete action they can take, specifically to decrease their individual intake of Carbs by 1/3. The result was that the following month, blood sugars decreased across the board, even in those that have been difficult to manage.
This report is on our activities over the past three months. We had three monthly clinic days and 235 visits. Each clinic provides blood pressure and blood sugar screening, health education, and enough medications to last until the next clinic. At each clinic, we distributed thirty day supplies of medications as follows:
Glucophage 2000 mg per day to 35 people, which is 1050 doses per month!
Amlodipine 10 mg per day to 47 people, which is 1410 doses per month!
Zestril 10 mg per day to 16 people, total 480 doses!
Glanil 5-10 mg per day to 10 people, total 300 doses!
Furosemide 20 mg per day to 10 people, total 300 doses!
Atenolol 50-100 mg per day to 4 people, total 120 doses!
Zestril, Glanil, and Furosemide, are given in combination with either Glucophage or Amlodipine.Over 40% of participants receive two or more different medications.
Blood sugar is directly linked with the amount of Carbohydrate in the diet. A major challenge in the community we serve is that the diet is Carbohydrate dependent. Dietary counselling is a must, in combination with medication, in good Diabetes care. In my conversations with participants, it is clear that they are trying to change their diet. However, I also noted that they understand that Carbohydrates affect their blood sugars negatively, but their approach to decreasing Carbs was not completely correct. For example, they eat unripe plantain, ‘wheat’ flour, and other foods which they believe doesn't increase blood sugar, but they fail to decrease the amount of Carbohydrates. The good news is that participants are very receptive to the information they receive.
We are able to provide this service with the support of our donors. Thanks for your donations! Your support is saving lives in rural communities in Eastern Nigeria. We are in the process of organizing a screening event in December. We appreciate your support to improve the success of this event. Thanks for partnering with us!
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