Lara Caraballo Rivera October 5,2022

How are people In Burundi and Tonga with poverty experience diabetes?

Poverty is rarely mentioned as a causative component in this research. Instead, hypotheses

for diabetes in low-income individuals frequently focus on patient characteristics, such as

their genetics, habits, psychology, culture, or other "health conditions” like diabetes. while

downplaying, reinterpreting, or disregarding the connections between poverty and illness. By

doing thus, these discursive methods normalize the higher incidence of diabetes among the

poor, justify dominance relations in broader society, and promote only research initiatives,

treatment practices, and health and social policies that do not undermine preexisting social

structures care. Burundi is an extremely challenging country to live with diabetes, as well as

Nigeria. Since most people are impoverished, it is challenging to obtain supplies like

equipment and medications. It is challenging for both of these countries to have everything

necessary to support the medical treatment since they both struggle with specific diabetes-

related issues.

One type 1 patient makes an average of $100 per month, and they might spend an average of

$30 per month only on medications. The price of appointments and other kinds of treatment

are not included. It is worse if you live in a rural area. Regular insulin is difficult to obtain,

and if you do, you run into the issue of not having a refrigerator to keep the insulin cold. In

Burundi, the government offers free insulin to anyone under the age of 25 through the

country's health system, although there is only one location for delivery. People began

looking for methods to help as they became aware of Burundi's significant problems with

poverty and the rise in diabetes.

Many people began doing initiatives that were very successful, and they continued to

strategize for ways to make traveling around the country simple. They developed a strategy

for aiding Burundi. The previous project WDF06-187 succeeded in a number of goals,

including examining more than 3,000 persons and holding a workshop to educate outcome.

Diabetes is very common in rural regions. For the goal of enhancing access to diabetes care

in rural regions, especially in the two provinces of Bujumbura Rural and Cibitoke in the

western region of Burundi, the project partner on WDF06-187, Centre de Lutte Contre le

Diabète au Burundi, requested for and received assistance from the WDF.

To better manage the burden of diabetes in the project regions, the project will assist enhance

the current public health system. This initiative barely lasted for four years, and it hasn't been

of any assistance afterwards. Despite the fact that they haven't given a reason for stopping, it

is still a significant issue that demands attention. Although this project was terminated in

2012, others, such as the Burundian Diabetes Society, continue to provide assistance in this

manner. Burundian Diabetes Association has a similar aim, although they don't have as many

members as in the prior initiative, and there is still no study on how they are still assisting

now.

As someone who is in a developing nation but has access to healthcare and basic necessities,

I want to make this a priority. However, given the high rate of poverty there, it can be

challenging to spread awareness of the issue worldwide. I would approach this problem in a

manner akin to how the Ukrainians approached the president for assistance during the

conflict. Everyone began to donate, provide assistance, and deploy troops after the media

became aware of the situation in Ukraine and its request for assistance. I shall appeal to all of

the world's leaders for assistance in eradicating poverty and diabetes in Burundi. Whereas
there are many nations that struggle with problems, Nigeria is also a nation that needs

assistance because of the poverty and diabetes that its citizens are experiencing.

Nigeria is one of the African countries that is now suffering from an increase in the incidence

of diabetes mellitus. According to a recent meta-analysis, roughly about 6 million of adult

Nigerians live with Diabetes mellitus. Since it is believed that two-thirds of diabetes cases in

Nigeria have not yet been detected. The majority of Africa's nation is low- and medium-

income nations are affected by this scenario, which has not only increased the burden of

diabetes-related complications and mortality but also placed a considerable load on the

region's already precarious health systems. For instance, it is estimated that there are only

600,000 diabetic specialists in Nigeria. Additionally, the majority of specialists work in

tertiary medical facilities, which are often found in urban areas. Therefore, primary care

doctors, also known as general practitioners, make up the majority of the medical workforce

providing diabetes care in most African nations. A chronic care model based on primary

healthcare systems has also been promoted for low- and middle-income nations, in which a

significant portion of the responsibility for patient care is put on Primary care doctors. Due to

their different poverty levels, these two nations have distinct approaches to managing persons

with diabetes who are also struggling with poverty.

While there are initiatives in Nigeria to assist those with diabetes who live in poverty, they

still require medical supplies that are not available there. As a strategy to aid these two

nations, I would fundraise for charity, teach overseas, and take on an internship; there are

innumerable individuals who would be pleased to go and assist those who suffer from

diabetes and poverty. If I were to design a project for both countries, I would provide the

basic necessities that people need on a daily basis, like access to clean water and good
hygiene, and as I mentioned earlier, ask for donations or funds to support these people while

also making sure to spread the word through a variety of platforms and social media.

“BTI 2022 Burundi Country Report.” 2022. BTI 2022. Accessed October 1. https://bti-
project.org/en/reports/country-report/BDI. 

“Diabetes Care in Delta State of Nigeria.” 2022. Diabetes Care in Delta State of Nigeria: An
Expository Review. Accessed October 1. https://www.oatext.com/diabetes-care-in-
delta-state-of-nigeria-an-expository-review.php. 

“Improving Quality of Care WDF09-431.” 2019. World Diabetes Foundation. January 14.

https://www.worlddiabetesfoundation.org/projects/burundi-wdf09-431. 

Taumoepeau, Jennifer, Catherine R Knight-Agarwal, ' Esiteli A P Tu'i, Rati Jani,

Uchechukwu Levi Osuagwu, and David Simmons. 2021. “Living with Type 2 Diabetes
Mellitus in the Kingdom of Tonga: A Qualitative Investigation of the Barriers and
Enablers to Lifestyle Management.” BMC Public Health. BioMed Central. July 3.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8254930/. 

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October 1. https://www.t1international.com/blog/2018/03/26/type-1-diabetes-burundi-
doctors-perspective/. 

Ugwu, Ejiofor, Ekenechukwu Young, and Marcellinus Nkpozi. 2020. “Diabetes Care
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