Pan-African Diabetic Foot Study Group (PADFSG)
News from the IDF Consultative Section (IDF CSDF) and IWGDF
Dr. Kristien Van Acker (Belgium)
Chair, International Working Group of Diabetic Foot / International Diabetes Federation
Foot Consultant Section, Belgium, Brussels
Step by Step Foot Project / Train the Foot Trainer
As chair of the International Working Group on the Diabetic Foot (IWGDF) and International Diabetic Federation Consultative Section of Diabetic Foot (IDF CSDF) I’m delighted to be invited to the up-coming Pan-African Diabetic Foot Study Group (PADFSG) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, East Africa in August 2014.
For this reason I like to share with you some recent outcomes from Foot projects which were supported by IDF and IWGDF. This is for sure that you can be proud of that and we will never forget that the “birth” of this Step by Step Foot project took place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Africa in 2003.
Basic information of Train the Foot Trainer course can be found at the website:www.iwgdf.org
Train-the-Foot-Trainer program, how to set up a Step-by-Step project (TtFT), was held in Brasilia, Brazil, December 5-8, 2012, chaired by myself, Hermelinda Pedrosa (local chair), with important support of the SACA chair (and the IDF Vice president) Dr Manuel Vera Gonzalez and colleagues. It was IDF President Michael Hurst, who had a belief in the course and defended an IDF donation.
Many other associations were involved: IDF SACA region, SBD (Brazilian Diabetes Association), FAP (Fundaςão de Apoio a Pesquisa-Foot Acquisition Program-) and ADB (Associãςao dos Diabético do Brasil)
59 participants (of which 15 observers) from 13 countries of the SACA region participated in the course. The course was given in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
This first TtFT course was a great success. It was a truly interactive program, the workshops in smaller groups were very well received, and the teaching lectures by the so experienced faculty members performed were very much appreciated. To all participants tools were given to install SbS programs in their own countries as well as guidelines for implementation and data collection to create sustainability. Educational materials (books, videos for patients and health care workers, poster materials and IWGDF Diabetic Foot guidelines 2011) were presented to all country representatives.
The participants felt inspired by the course and grateful to receive enough motivation, to try to install programs in their own countries to improve the management and prevention of diabetic foot.
Today the local facilitators are delighted to let us know that 87,5 % of the countries involved have set up their basic courses of the Step-by-Step programmes. They looked after their own regional funding for this achievement, what is already the first step to sustainability. The number of trained Health Care professionals reached the 1103. Fifty per cent of the countries involved their Health Care Authorities in this process. In Chile the representatives started together with the ministry of health a Telemedicine Diabetic Foot Programme.
Today the DATA-collection pilot project DIAFI, developed by IWGDF and the UNFM (University Numérique Francophone Mondiale) is translated in Spanish and Portuguese.
Many countries are preparing today the second phase to work on the national advanced courses.
See also newsletter: newslettermarch13.pdf