Chapter 1: General Information on Diabetes

Welcome to the World Health Organization's (WHO) Pacific Open Learning Health Net (POLHN) interactive learning module on diabetes. This module is designed to help you, as a health worker, to understand the disease better and to provide health education for different audiences. It uses simple, non-technical language that you can easily adapt for your presentations to schools, community groups, and others.

This learning module is organized into chapters, like an electronic book. This chapter provides an introduction to diabetes. The following chapters provide information about preventing the disease (Chapter 2), a discussion of complications and treatment options (Chapter 3), useful resources for different audiences (Chapter 4), and a sample presentation and tips for giving your own presentations (Chapter 5).

You can either read through from start to finish, or you can move around to the sections you need. The top navigation bar lists the 5 chapters in the module; when you select a chapter, the lower navigation bar lists the sections within the chapter. Use the bar in the middle of the page to scroll down as you read. To print the chapter, click on the computer icon below the scroll bar.

Each chapter sets learning goals and provides links to guide you to related resources and further information. Just click on the colored and underlined text to follow these links. Most chapters conclude with a ‘Learn More’ section with links, a glossary of terms, and a list of resources with their website addresses.

POLHN is especially grateful to the Lifestyle Health Section of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) for their contributions to this module. Their training series, “Diabetes is Everyone’s Business” (under development), will offer more in-depth training on diabetes to community health workers and training facilitators. Click here to get more information about this series.

POLHN would also like to acknowledge the American Diabetes Association for permission to use Link for Life, a Make the Link interactive program on diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

We hope this learning module proves useful to you, and we thank you for your dedication to improving the health of communities in the Pacific. If you would like more copies of the module, or if you have suggestions, questions, or comments about it, please contact Dr. Richard Wah, WHO South Pacific Office, P.O. Box 113, Suva, Fiji (email: WahR@sp.wpro.who.int).

Learning Goals for Chapter 1

After reading this chapter, you will have an understanding of:

• Three types of diabetes (especially Type 2)
• Importance of the disease in Pacific communities
• Symptoms and risk factors of Type 2 diabetes
• Relationship between diabetes and cardiovascular disease
• Where to find further resources on diabetes