Diabetes cases double as Uganda moves to standardise treatment
Officials from the Ministry of Health and Uganda Diabetes Association, launching the Uganda Diabetes management guidelines in Kampala on July 5, 2025. PHOTO/SYLVIA NAMAGEMBE
What you need to know:
Diabetes cases double as Uganda moves to standardise treatment.
Uganda's Ministry of Health, in partnership with the Uganda Diabetes Association (UDA), has launched the country’s first-ever comprehensive diabetes management guidelines, in response to a growing wave of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), especially diabetes.
The guidelines, developed with local realities in mind, aim to streamline diabetes care across public and private health systems, balancing limited resources with evidence-based global practices. Nationwide training sessions are planned to support their rollout.
Speaking at the launch during the 2025 UDA Annual Scientific Conference in Kampala on July 5, Dr Charles Oyoo Akiya, Commissioner for NCDs at the Ministry of Health, acknowledged widespread mismanagement of diabetes cases—sometimes even at national referral hospitals.
“Many of these patients are being mismanaged at different levels of care,” he said. “We now have drafted diabetes guidelines that are locally developed, research-based, and tailored to our realities.”
Dr Oyoo revealed that the prevalence of diabetes in Uganda has doubled over the last decade, with non-communicable diseases now accounting for 35 percent of all deaths in the country.
Obesity, a major risk factor, affects 24 percent of the population—especially women and urban residents. However, lean individuals are increasingly being diagnosed as well, underscoring the complexity of the disease.
Dr Davis Kibirige, a specialist at the Uganda Virus Research Institute and a key contributor to the guidelines, said the Ministry’s previous protocols were too general to manage diabetes effectively.
“We’ve always said the existing guidelines weren’t comprehensive. Diabetes affects every organ and can impact people at all life stages—even in the womb,” Dr Kibirige said.
The new reference guide breaks down diabetes by type, including the newly classified Type 5, each with unique symptoms, target age groups, and treatment paths. Many patients, he said, were previously misdiagnosed or mistreated, leading to advanced-stage complications.
Earlier clinical guidelines focused on emergencies like diabetic ketoacidosis, but failed to provide routine management steps—such as how to initiate insulin therapy in children or adapt dosages to different patient needs.
“We’ve included summary tables tailored to every level of care,” Dr Kibirige noted. “For example, a Health Centre II will know what it can handle, when to refer, and how to act early.”
According to UDA, rural eastern Uganda has the highest burden, with a diabetes prevalence of 7.4 percent and pre-diabetes at 8.6 percent. The International Diabetes Federation ranks Uganda among the top 48 countries facing escalating diabetes burdens.
UDA President Dr William Lumu said the absence of uniform standards has left patients vulnerable to poor or even exploitative care.
“Each health worker has been doing their own thing. Some even claim to cure diabetes without scientific basis,” he said. “These guidelines bring long-overdue structure.”
He added that key challenges—including the absence of a national diabetes registry, drug shortages, and limited funding—are partly addressed through the new framework.
“We’ve seen diabetic patients get lost in the system. This is a crucial step toward integrated, accountable care,” Dr Lumu said.
A 2024 World Health Organization (WHO) study estimates that 422 million people globally live with diabetes—a chronic disease that, if untreated, can damage the heart, nerves, blood vessels, and vital organs.
