Diabetes Management in Southwest Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study

A health facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted to describe how diabetes was being managed in health facilities in Jimma zone, Southwest Ethiopia. We analysed data from 174 people with diabetes collected as part of a previous study on the quality of Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases that had presented findings as aggregated scores. At the time of diagnosis, Fasting Plasma Glucose test was conducted for 85.6% of the cases. During follow-up, none of the patients received HbA1c test and only 31% of them had at least a bimonthly Fasting Blood Sugar test. Urinalysis, dilated eye examination, and feet examination were only rarely conducted during follow up visits. About one-third of the cases (32.2%) had at least one dosage change in their treatment regimen during the one year review period. On most recent assessment, desired level of glycemic control was achieved only for 32.8% of study subjects. Despite a relatively better access to health facilities, a huge gap exists in the provision of recommended components of diabetes care and the level of achievement of glycemic control among people with diabetes in Ethiopia. There is an urgent need to improve the quality of diabetes services to ensure achievement of maximum health benefits to patients.