01/07/2015

The Royal Health Awareness Society and LDS Charities have announced the results of the Diabetic Retinopathy campaign that was conducted in Madaba in cooperation with the Ministry of Health which aimed to identify persons in Jordan with the potential for developing diabetic retinopathy to be able to proceed with all the necessary procedures that will help them protect their visions.

The second campaign of the project was launched on the 23rd of March and continues until the 9h of April in 6 different locations in Madaba.

The results showed: 

• 5033 were screened for the Random blood glucose 
• 1197 were previously diagnosed with diabetes; making a prevalence of 23.8%
• Number of participants who were not diabetics but had a RBS ≥150 was 400
• The total number who should have come for the fasting blood glucose test is 1051 but the number who showed up for the FBS was 439
• Number of participants who are not diabetics and had high FBS  126 was 69
• Number of patients who went through the eye exams was 416
• Number of patients who got Diabetic Retinopathy 103; prevalence 24.8%

o   42 had mild NPDR; 40.8 %

o   26 had moderate NPDR; 25.2%

o   23 had severe NPDR; 22.3%

o   4 had PDR; 3.9%

o 7 had complicated DR; 6.8%   

o 1 patient with  DR but wasn’t tested because he didn’t want to dilate his eyes and he is already following up in the DRMS

Therefore, The Royal Health Awareness Society and the LDS Charities have formed a consortium of partner organizations in Jordan to develop and carry out this project, which includes: The Royal Health Awareness Society, the Ministry of Health, the University of Jordan, The Jordanian University of Science and the royal medical services. Later on, 6 campaigns will be launched in the communities surrounding MOH comprehensive health centers all across Jordan including: Al- Ramtha comprehensive health center, North Madaba comprehensive health center ,Sahab comprehensive health center, Al- Mafraq comprehensive health center, Bayader wadi Al- seer comprehensive health center and Ghor Al- mazra’a comprehensive health center under the umbrella of the healthy community clinic program that is applied in each health center mentioned above.

Volunteers of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Asociations (IFMSA – Jordan) helped out in conducting each campaign, as they will be responsible of conducting glucose testing for the adults in each community using the glucometer devices supplied by the LDS Charities and they also helped in referring patients whose results are high to the main comprehensive health center where an eye specialist will conduct a free retinopathy exam if necessary, after which the patients who are diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy will be referred to the hospitals that match with their insurances to get the appropriate treatment. LDS Charities supplied the health centers with the equipments necessary to do eye examination.