Charity trip to Sierra Leone
Bringing diabetes supplies and training local medical staff
LKOTT is organising a charitable visit to Sierra Leone from 13 to 28 April 2024, to tackle the rapid rise in diabetes-related deaths in the region.
In this area of West Africa, diabetes is an enormous threat to life. Lack of insulin means that the life expectancy of someone who develops Type 1 diabetes is less than one year.
The team is working with the Help Madina charity to organise the healthcare visit. The group consists of:
• Dr Veronica Sawicki – GP
• Helen Towers – Diabetes Podiatrist
• Elaine Allerton – Dietician
• Amanda Epps – Diabetes Specialist Nurse
• Lisa Kelly – Project Organisation Associate
Dr Veronica Sawicki is co-founder of the Help Madina charity, and spends 6-12 weeks of unpaid leave each year delivering hands-on training in the town of Madina, Sierra Leone. She said: “New cases of diabetes are detected every week in Madina and the hospital now has a register of hundreds of people living with diabetes. We are working hard to get people the medication they need – and when we started we had no supplies of insulin at all.
“Today, we have a good source of medication, but there is still a lot to do in saving the lives of those living with diabetes in Madina. I’m so thankful to Amanda, Helen, Elaine and Lisa for planning this trip to help train medical teams in better care for these patients.”
Diabetes is a global concern that the World Health Organisation has highlighted as an evolving catastrophe. The number of cases of diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa is rising dramatically and the complications of this condition cause enormous human suffering and premature death.
The cost of the visit has been funded by a grant from the Transpetrol Foundation, but the team is fundraising for diabetes resources including blood glucose meters, test strips, insulin, needles, footcare dressings, monofilaments to detect neuropathy and much more. Donate to support the Diabetes Healthcare Team here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/dsnforumukhelpmadina
About Help Madina
Help Madina is a charity focused on improving the health and wellbeing of people living in the Madina district of Sierra Leone.
Help Madina supports a feeding centre, provides out-reach medical clinics, eye care and cataract operations, the restoration and building of water wells, improvements to sanitation, plus help for the elderly and disabled and support to some schools.