Managing Depression in Persons with Type 2 Diabetes

Description

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) have declared Depression and Diabetes Mellitus (Type 2 Diabetes) as world health emergencies in the 21st Century. Both pathologies have profoundly negative impact on people’s quality of life and overall life expectancy. Depression and diabetes co-occur in a “bidirectional relationship”, with depression predicting the onset of diabetes and diabetes triggering depression. With the number of persons with Type 2 Diabetes increasing the world over, addressing depression in persons with diabetes mellitus is an important concern. Based on a case study of Tanzania’s Muhimbili Hospital, in Dar-es-Salaam, this publication identifies the key factors that drive depression prevalence in persons with Type 2 Diabetes and proposes a Collaborative Care Model for the management of depression in Type 2 Diabetes patients, with a view to mitigating the cost of the pathology in terms of lives and health care burden to households.