QUEZON City is set to pilot an initiative to lessen the risk and incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus or GDM among pregnant women.
Mayor Herbert Bautista has signed an agreement with the Institute for Reproductive Health Philippines to undertake a project that will demonstrate the use of a set of protocols for screening and management of gestational diabetes mellitus among indigent pregnant women in Barangay Gulod.
The Institute for Reproductive Health Philippines is an independent organization engaged in the GDM project. The group works with the World Diabetes Foundation.
The protocol shall be adopted in the maternal newborn child health and nutrition services in Gulod Health Center during the pilot period.
The group shall manage the screening, treatment and education of women and their families on diabetes care at the Gulod health center and Novaliches District Hospital.
At least 150 female patients of the health center afflicted with diabetes will be screened, tested and treated within three years.
The patients’ health will be monitored until six weeks’ post-partum and their babies for the next six months after birth.
The incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus in the Philippines as reported in private hospitals is 14 percent.