Access to diabetes care in sub-Saharan Africa: Results of a diabetes health network in Guinea

In Africa, diabetes care structures are concentrated in the urban areas mostly. The concept of network health cares increasingly developed in the management of chronic diseases in Occidental countries, remains still little known in Africa. In Guinea, in the context of diabetes care decentralization, a first diabetes care network was developed in the Futa Jallon area, located 450 km from the capital. In this paper, we describe this network specificity and report the results after a period of 9 years of practice. The commitment of the diabetics' regional association was a key factor in the establishment of the network care. The number of annual consultations increased from 101 (2002) to 2938 (2011). The in-hospital death rate decreased from 15% (2002) to 3% (2011). Despite these very significant progresses, many challenges remain. © 2012 - Elsevier Masson SAS - Tous droits réservés.