International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) Working Group India chapter has now drawn out a blueprint to support South Asian countries facing common maternal healthcare issues, such as diabetes, hypertension and metabolic syndrome. The roadmap devised is to put in place a Primary Prevention Model which is already tried and tested in India to be a successful platform.

“South Asia and Africa account for approximately 70 per cent of the deliveries worldwide annually. So, it becomes imperative for us to collaborate and evolve solutions based on local problems instead of looking elsewhere for guidance. This conference ushered in a new era of cooperation among the South Asian nations based on knowledge-sharing and setting goals to overcome the issues pertaining to maternal healthcare,” said Dr. Hema Divakar, co-chair, FIGO HIP Working Group and past president of FOGSI (The Federation of Obstetric and Gynecological Societies of India).

Participating at the recently concluded Asia Pacific Congress on Diabetes, Hypertension & Metabolic Syndrome in Pregnancy (2016) organised here by the South Asia Initiative for Diabetes in Pregnancy (SAIDIP) and the DIP Asia-Pacific Symposium (DIPAP) at Colombo, Dr. Hema who was also the conference president, cited a several instances where the medical fraternity in India evolved solutions for problems locally.

“The largest numbers of pregnancies happen in South Asia. With over 30 million deliveries annually in India, we have roughly 5 million pregnancies with raised blood sugars. It is a challenge to the health system to manage these, not only in pregnancy - but also for years beyond pregnancy, in order to prevent type 2 adult diabetes. Therefore Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Maldives need to tackle the issues from the long-term perspective by drawing their experiences and learning from India,” she added.

FOGSI India adopted a four-pronged approach to tackle 4 different issues: ABCD covering Anaemia, Building Contraceptive choices, Cancer of Cervix and Diabetes-India. We brought into practice a Primary Prevention Model, to tackle these issues at the elementary level through innovations. It involved capacity building of the medical and paramedical staff, obstetricians, gynaecologists, and medical officers, primary health care centre personnel through this programme.

Policy level interventions are required to address healthcare issues. It is the responsibility of the medical fraternity to enlist the support of the government. Among the South Asian countries, India leads the way forward for establishing guidelines for management of diabetes in pregnancy and capacity building for all healthcare providers with a novel and innovative skills training module,” she said.

The burden of diabetes in pregnancy is greatest in developing countries. “It is time for South Asian nations to get together. For instance, 10 per cent of the women are at risk in Sri Lanka from diabetes. A Diabetes Prevention Task Force has also been formed in Sri Lanka. We were quick to understand the magnitude of the problem and evolved guidelines for the medical fraternity to address gestational diabetes at every level. We recommend other countries facing this issue to follow our model,” said Dr. Hema.