CLAN (Caring & Living As Neighbours)
Colombia drives change for children living with NCDs!
10 Mar 2024
Country Stories
Generación Vida Nueva project expands and inspires
Colombia
World Diabetes Foundation, Generación Vida Nueva | 08 Mar 2023
At the IPS Salud Social, a bustling primary care centre in central Barranquilla, dozens of women listen intently as a doctor explains the risks of HIP and the importance of controlling the blood sugar during and after pregnancy.
Each has her own reason for being here. Audris Celin, 28, is among the pregnant women present – she was diagnosed with gestational diabetes seven weeks ago, and after her diagnosis she was encouraged to join the programme activities and come for regular checkups.
She now visits the clinic every 15th day to receive medication and follow-up care, check her blood sugar, and attend the information sessions.
“I have learned that the way you behave and nutrition are very important, and also to show up for check-ups and do what the doctors ask you to do to prevent something serious from happening. I now eat a healthy breakfast and also lunch and, in the evening, I only eat green vegetables and eggs and similar,” she says.
A woman in her neighbourhood died from high sugar levels, she adds. “So you have to be careful.”
Keily Quintero, 18, has also battled gestational diabetes. She was pregnant before, three years ago, but lost the baby to diabetes, she says. Four months ago, she delivered a healthy daughter, with the health centre’s help.
“I was in the hospital almost every day because it was the same with [my second child], she also wanted to come out in week 26. So they treated me here, and I had her in week 30,” she says. “We are doing fine today, thanks to the treatment at the clinic and thanks to God.”
IPS Salud Social is one of 125 health centres targeted by Generación Vida Nueva: Hyperglycemia in Pregnancy (Phase 3), a project working to integrate HIP screening and care into the health system to ensure healthier pregnancies and positive pregnancy outcomes along Colombia’s Caribbean coast and the city of Cali.
It aims to:
• Update and adapt clinical guidelines and protocols for HIP detection and management incl. post-partum activities/diabetes care and prevention
• Build capacity of health centres across the eight targeted departments
• Roll out of universal screening of pregnant women across all communities within catchment areas, combined with education and referral for cases detected.
• Roll out large-scale awareness and mass media campaigns concerning diabetes and other NCDs, targeting pregnant women for HIP detection
