Incidence of hypoglycaemia in the South African population with diabetes: results from the IDMPS Wave 7 study

Objectives: Management of diabetes is a balancing act of preventing a state of hyperglycaemia while avoiding episodes of hypoglycaemia. Limited information is currently available on the incidence of hypoglycaemia in South African people diagnosed with diabetes. Data regarding the management of diabetes and incidence of hypoglycaemia in the South African population was collected as part of Wave 7 of the International Diabetes Management Practices Study (IDMPS). Design and methods: During this observational study the first 10 adult individuals with type 2 diabetes and the first five adult individuals with type 1 diabetes presenting to a study site during the two-week study period were enrolled. Setting:Patients were enrolled from the private healthcare sector in South Africa only. Subjects:A total of 445 individuals (49 diagnosed with T1D, 396 diagnosed with T2D) were included. Outcome measures:Glycated haemoglobin and hypoglycaemia data were recorded for each patient. Results:Of the patients who reported experiencing hypoglycaemia, 48.6% (17/35) among T1D individuals and 67.8% (40/71) among T2D individuals experienced hypoglycaemia over a four-week period. Furthermore, in patients who discontinued insulin treatment (n= 11), fear of hypoglycaemia was reported to influence adherence to insulin treatment by 27.3% in T1D and T2D individuals. Of the 148 patients not achieving their HbA1c target, 23.0% reported fear of hypoglycaemia as a reason. Conclusions: This report demonstrates the need to address hypoglycaemia and fear of hypoglycaemia in the South African diabetes population

Medical Science Liaisons (MSL) in Africa: a perspective

The role of a Medical Science Liaison (MSL) is of growing importance to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, diagnostic and medical device companies. Through scientific engagement MSLs add value to clinical practice, ultimately benefiting patients. The MSL role is dynamic and encompasses in-depth product and disease knowledge together with the ability to communicate relevant, unbiased scientific information concisely and timely. Tasks are focussed on contributing towards the advancement of medical knowledge, scientific data generation and dissemination. Professional relationships are developed, fostering collaboration between external experts and typically the medical affairs departments of pharmaceutical companies through a credible liaison. Through such relationships, critical insights are shared that shape the development pipeline, promote successful clinical translation and guide the market deployment strategy of therapeutic interventions through-out their life cycle. Despite the rising number of MSLs in the field and the implicit medical value of the role, there remains a lack of understanding for what the roles of an MSL entails. In Africa, where exponential growth of the pharmaceutical industry is expected, the number of MSLs will increase rapidly. Given the complexities of the African continent, the MSLs in this burgeoning environment will face various challenges including remote locations, time-constraints, regulatory and bureaucratic hurdles and importantly physician misperception of the MSL role that collectively may thwart the goal of meaningful scientific engagement; but these challenges can be surmounted through astute proactive planning and utilization of opportunities including digital communication strategies