“I didn't know I had diabetes until I became sick. I went into hospital and was told: ‘Your blood sugar level is way up.’”

In 1996, Evelyne Musera’s diagnosis of type 2 diabetes set her on a life-long path of medical treatment. The ongoing costs of managing her condition pose a serious financial burden on her family.

“I am on medication every day,” she said, in a recent interview with WHO at the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi. “If you don't take it, you find that you are again admitted to the hospital. You must have a lot of money to buy the medication. We are no longer able to afford the things we used to do.”

Barriers to treatment

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic illness resulting largely from excess body weight and physical inactivity. Like Evelyne, most people living with diabetes in Kenya are diagnosed too late, when preventing complications of the disease is no longer possible.

“Across Kenya, community awareness around diabetes is low,” notes Dr Nancy Ngugi, Head of the Diabetes Clinic at Kenyatta National Hospital. People are often diagnosed through medical outreach camps or when patients arrive at the hospital with complications of diabetes like thirst, vision change, fatigue and constant hunger, she adds.

For many Kenyans, the cost of health care is a key obstacle to treatment. “Health care is not free in Kenya,” says Dr Ngugi. “In lower-income communities, we find that life is hard. People do not have money to buy drugs, to see the doctor, to get their tests done.”

Treatment involves lowering a patient’s blood sugar levels through a healthy diet, regular physical activity and medication when necessary. Reducing the levels of other known risk factors that can damage blood vessels, such as high blood pressure, is also important