Content warning: this story mentions pregnancy loss
You can find Alice Nyokabi visiting people with type 2 diabetes in their homes in rural Kenya, but she’s not a community health worker. She’s a peer educator.
The 45-year-old mother of three became passionate about diabetes after losing her pregnancy a month after being diagnosed with gestational diabetes at five months.
After the delivery, she stabilized – and stopped seeking treatment. Four years later, she started becoming dizzy and tired. The diabetes was back.
Nyokabi started attending a patient support group at her clinic. There, she enrolled in the Empower Health program and was connected to a community health worker who helped her manage her diabetes.
Empower Health is our nationally scaled program for data-driven community healthcare delivery in Kenya. Since its launch in 2016, we have screened over 250,000 people for hypertension and diabetes – and are now screening for any condition requiring longitudinal care.
As Nyokabi’s story shows, people often experience multiple healthcare needs or experience co-morbidities.
Once enrolled in the program, patients are given a personalized treatment plan. Community health workers help manage patients’ treatment plans by regularly following up with them directly in the community, often in their homes, to monitor relevant conditions.
“The community health workers advise on what to do, what to eat, and how to exercise,” Nyokabi said. “That is how I have been able to do very well health wise. My diabetes is controlled now. I don’t know what to say but I am so grateful.”
Through her experience with Medtronic LABS, she started learning more about diabetes and became interested in helping others. Before long, she became a peer educator herself.
She visits other diabetes patients in her community and educates them about maintaining a healthy diet, exercising, and staying active in their treatment plan through Empower Health.
Nyokabi was inspired, in part, by Patient Engagement Lead Jane Muthoni.
Muthoni is passionate about empowering the women she meets through her work with patients and community health workers.
“Empower one woman, and you empower the entire nation,” she said.
For Muthoni, who has lived with type 1 diabetes since she was 6 years old – and for Nyokabi – the work is personal.
“I am able to help so many people realize that diabetes can be controlled and to be very careful with their lifestyle – especially if they have gestational diabetes,” Nyokabi said.
Learn more about how Medtronic LABS develops community-based, tech-enabled solutions for underserved patients, families, and communities across the world.
