The Availability of Diabetes Services in Cambodian Primary Care Facilities: An Analysis of Self-Reported Survey with Health Center Staff
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Keywords

Type 2 diabetes
Primary care
Primary health care
Service availability

Abstract

Introduction

Cambodia saw an increase in type 2 diabetes prevalence up to 9.6% among the adult population aged 18-69 years in 2016. As a leading risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes could lead to serious health complications if proper and adequate care was not available. Lack of access to essential health services and medicines for type 2 diabetes has been proven to hamper improvement in controlling disease outcomes. This study aims to assess the availability of services for type 2 diabetes in the primary care provided by health centers and their characteristics of service inputs.

Methods

This study used an existing dataset obtained from health center staff joining a national training on “Health center preparedness in response to COVID-19 spread in the community” at the National Institute of Public Health from 19 October to 01 December 2020. Data related to the availability of type 2 diabetes services and the associated characteristics of service inputs were extracted for the descriptive analysis.

Results

The dataset collected in 2020 was composed of information from 1,157 (95%) of the total 1,221 health centers in Cambodia. Among the participating health centers (n=1,157), 223 (19%) reported currently providing type 2 diabetes services at their facilities, 261 (23%) currently having anti-diabetic medicines, 740 (64%) currently having supporting infrastructure, 235 (20%) having at least one staff member ever received training about type 2 diabetes, and 320 (28%) having ever provided community education about type 2 diabetes.

Conclusions

This study indicates the limited availability of type 2 diabetes services at public primary care facilities in the Cambodian health system. The findings could be informative for health service planning for type 2 diabetes at the health center level.

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