HISTORY

UDOP was formed in 1991 with the aid of a grant of ?50000 UK from the Wolfson foundation. Its mission is to translate all information about diabetes for communication far and wide to the nation. In addition, it was to develop a 24-hr clinic, which would provide service to all in need.

This activity developed along two paths via communication and research.

COMMUNICATION:

There was information dissemination at the level of the health team. There were symposia arranged for doctors, nurses, pharmacists, chiropodists and technologists. These meetings served as training-in-service and equipped the practitioner with up-to-date skills for improving his/her quality of care delivery. The meetings took various forms and approaches and eventually developed into an annual training course and international conference.

There was a collaborative effort with the Diabetes Association of Jamaica (DAJ) in teaching and improving awareness of diabetes to the public at large and to the diabetic person with his/her support group. In executing this, the director visited various group meetings island-wide and carried out discussion sessions. These interactive interchanges often resulted in the development of branch activity for the DAJ.

This collaboration strengthened the radio programme which had been underway since 1985 and produced by the Radio Education Unit (REU) of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona campus. By the end of 1992, a Stone poll revealed that the radio programme was reaching a regular listenership of 500,000 and another 400,000 casual listeners. It revealed also that the listenership was mainly in the urban areas and mainline villages and was not penetrating the deep rural communities. This information was able to assist the DAJ in formulating its expansion policy throughout the island.

Perhaps the best known outreach activity has come to be the annual UDOP meeting which is now the premier medical meeting in the Caribbean. It enjoys an attendance of some 500 participants, many of whom come from North America and Europe and from as far afield as China and the Far East. The theme of these meetings focuses on different aspects of diabetes related information and involved as co-sponsors are the American Diabetes Association and more recently the Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute. A feature of the meeting is the bringing in of well respected international speakers and a very high profile social programme which serves to highlight the diabetes team at work and at play! Proceedings of the scientific content of these meetings are available from the conference secretariat which is at present housed in the Department of Biochemistry, Basic Medical Sciences, Mona Campus. Associate coordinators are: Drs. Sonia Roache and Paul Teelucksingh - Trinidad & Tobago; Dr. Livy Forde - Barbados; Professor E. Albert Reece - University of Arkansas Medical School (USA); Ms. Susanne Laws, Diabetes Centre, Tallahassee (USA). There is also a strong partnership with the pharmaceutical industry.

These meetings are held in the first week of March of each year. Initially the venue was the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Mona Campus but by the third year the meeting had so grown that the venue was shifted to the Jamaica Grande, Ocho Rios, which offers the largest hotel-based conference facilities in the Caribbean.

THE 24-HR CLINIC: This idea was first nurtured by the DAJ, but never fructified. With the strengthening by UDOP, fundraising was intensified and piloted by the Seaga-Anderson family of Mandeville. The physical structure began at the head office of the DAJ in Kingston 5, at 1 Downer Ave. Assisted by proceeds from the annual UDOP conference and private investments, a 4-storey building is now complete and in operation since September 1997. It houses a comprehensive array of services for persons with diabetes inclusive of consultants, physiotherapy, pharmacy, gymnasium, renal dialysis, conference & eye laser facilities.

The unique concept here not only includes a ?one-stop-shop? for diabetes but brings together both private and public/voluntary sector activities under one roof in a mutually beneficial symbiosis.

This centre works closely with the Mona Institute of Medical Sciences in providing excellence in health care delivery as well as teaching of medical graduates. It is also a part of the Nephrology Institute of the Caribbean spearheaded by Professor Everard Barton of the department of Medicine, Mona Campus.

This major undertaking provides a crowning achievement of the UDOP as it was first conceptualized.

RESEARCH: UDOP has been involved in research into the prevalence and incidence of diabetes mellitus in Jamaica. Its epidemiological study which was reported in the international literature (Diabetes Care, Sept. 1995), is a widely cross-referenced study from the Caribbean and the only island-wide study of its kind. To accomplish this, UDOP obtained a research fellow from the UWI and employed graduate students from the department of Biochemistry; and together they worked with personnel from the various branches of the diabetes association across the island and health personnel from the Ministry of Health. The survey took 12 months and depended on the guidance of the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) to go into selected households throughout the island. There was also sponsorship from the Pan American (World) Health Organisation\(PAHO) and the International Diabetes Federation, North American Region.

This was a landmark study, which revealed that in the 15+ age group there are some 300,000 persons affected with diabetes and only 50% of them knew it. Men and women are equally affected; so were those from town or country. Obesity of the abdominal type distribution and multiple births (> 3-4) in women were found to be associated with a higher frequency of diabetes mellitus.

The study also looked at the relationship of diabetes and - hypertension; - cholesterol and - obesity; and found the frequency of hypertension to be 45.9% and obesity, 36.6% in the Jamaican population age 15 years and over.

The stage has indeed been set for enhanced collaboration in diabetes research and outreach.

Current officers:

Prof. the Hon. Errol Morrison ????? Director
Mr. Kushan Amarakoon ??????Operations Consultant
Ms. Thornia Smith ?????????Conference Secretary/Administrator
Mrs. Lurline Less & Mr Owen Bernard ? Liaison Officers from the Diabetes Association of Jamaica