'What kind of life is this?' Diabetes related notions of wellbeing among adults in eastern Uganda and implications for mitigating future chronic disease risk.

BACKGROUND: Effective prevention and care for type 2 diabetes requires that people link healthy behaviours to chronic disease-related wellbeing. This study explored how people perceive current and future wellbeing, so as to inform lifestyle education. METHODS: Eight focus group discussions and 12 in-depth interviews were conducted in Iganga and Mayuge districts in rural Eastern Uganda among people aged 35-60 years in three risk categories (1) People with diabetes, (2) people at higher risk of diabetes (with hypertension or overweight) and (3) community members without diabetes. RESULTS: People define wellbeing in three notions: 1) Physical health, 2) Socio-economic status and 3) Aspirational fulfilment. Most people hold the narrower view of wellbeing that focuses on absence of pain. Most overweight participants did not feel their condition as affecting their wellbeing. However, for several people with hypertension, the pains they describe indicate probable serious heart disease. Some people with diabetes expressed deep worry and loss of hope, saying that 'thoughts are more bothersome than the illness'. Wellbeing among people with diabetes was described in two perspectives: Those who view diabetes as a 'static' condition think that they cannot attain wellbeing while those who view it as a 'dynamic' condition think that with consistent treatment and healthy lifestyles, they can be well. While many participants perceive future wellbeing as important, people without diabetes are less concerned about it than those with diabetes. Inadequate knowledge about diabetes, drug stock-outs in health facilities, unaffordable healthier food, and contradictory information were cited as barriers to future wellbeing in people with diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: To make type 2 diabetes prevention relevant to healthy people, health education messages should link current lifestyles to future wellbeing. Diabetes patients need counselling support, akin to that in HIV care, to address deep worry and loss of hope.

[Tuberculosis control in Eastern Europe]. / Tuberculosebestrijding in Oost-Europa.

The annual incidence of tuberculosis in Eastern Europe has increased from an average of 40 per 100,000 in 1990 to 60 per 100,000 in 1998. In particular, the increase in multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, which is difficult to treat, is a great cause for concern due to increasing migration. The breakdown in the healthcare infrastructure, which has jeopardised medicine supplies, is largely to blame for this increased incidence. Eastern Europe has a long standing tuberculosis control system which is characterised by extensive and specialised knowledge about the disease, but also by a lack of knowledge concerning its control. A great deal of attention is paid to the number of medical procedures carried out, but the results are ignored. For a few years now, Western aid organisations have been involved in tuberculosis control in Eastern Europe and have introduced the WHO DOTS strategy ('directly observed treatment, short-course'), with emphasis on case detection by sputum smear microscopy, directly observed uninterrupted treatment with short-course intensive chemotherapy and evaluation of treatment outcome. The Netherlands play a prominent role in these activities. The DOTS strategy is only slowly becoming accepted in Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia. It is in Western Europe's interest to help Eastern Europe rebuild their tuberculosis control system. Education and training are important elements to prepare doctors for their new role, in which public health should be given greater emphasis.