BALANCE team collaborates on World Diabetes Day outreach
On World Diabetes Day (14th of November 2025), the Khayelitsha Site B CHC Dietetics department partnered with CIDRI-Africa's BALANCE trial team to host an awareness event at the facility. The dietitians demonstrated to patients how to choose practical diabetic-friendly food items available locally. The session covered the importance of portion control and facilitated conscious interaction with nutrition education using food cards to demonstrate the items mentioned. The CIDRI-Africa team conducted random blood glucose tests and BMI readings on non-diabetic patients. We thank Hemocue for their donation of glucose cuvettes to support the screening event. Meanwhile, the Khayelitsha Site B CHC Health Promotion team offered diabetic screening to the public at a nearby shopping centre. More than 150 members of the public were screened and 6 with elevated blood glucose levels were referred to the CHC.
The “Benefit-risk of TB prevention treatment for people with diabetes” (“BALANCE”) trial will recruit a total of 3,100 people older than 15 with diabetes who live in the Philippines and South Africa; the trial will run for 5 years. The team plans to find the best strategy for tuberculosis (TB) prevention for people with diabetes who are HIV-negative and likely infected with the bacterium that causes TB. The Philippines clinical research sites in the City of Dasmariñas and City of Muntinlupa, managed by CareCT, are expected to begin recruitment in the first quarter of 2026.