In the context of health education programs aimed at supporting people with diabetes, the pediatric endocrinology department at King Abdulaziz Medical City, National Guard Hospital in Jeddah, and Sanofi, an integrated health care leader, have joined forces in carrying out a Tamkeen initiative that consists of a comprehensive patient support program conceived to support and assist people with diabetes on how to cope and manage the disease.

The program has 500 patients enrolled since it was launched at the beginning of the year; the rate of patients’ retention and satisfaction was noticeable. The initial results of the program have revealed that 65 percent of the patients have witnessed a significant improvement in their A1C levels, while 20 percent has witnessed a slight improvement in their A1C levels.

Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Tuweym, pediatric endocrinology specialist and chief of endocrinology department at the National Guard Hospital and vice president of Saudi Endocrinology for Children’s Association, said: “Most of the complications resulting from diabetes can be avoided or postponed, through implementing special education and awareness programs, hence we conceived and launched a special program to support the people with diabetes and offer them advice and guidance to reduce the complications of the disease.”

This awareness program includes communicating regularly with the patients through SMS and email to remind them of their treatment plan and help them to follow up on their diabetes indexes in order to cope with any risky complications. The program also focuses on enhancing patients’ ability to change their lifestyle in a manner that best suits the disease and helps to deal with it.

Dr. Salah Mousa, Sanofi’s GM, said: “This initiative came as a part of Sanofi’s commitment to the community to provide an integrated solution to support diabetic patients.”