For most of her life Elize Burger has had to live with the stigma, bullying and trauma that came with being diagnosed with diabetes.
The 35-year-old was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes just three months before her sixth birthday in 1994.
This means her pancreas produces little to no insulin, leaving her with a chronic and incurable disease. She detailed the daily struggle she, and many others in a similar situation, face due to the prejudice around the disease.
“There's still a lot of stigma around it, a lot of people call it sugar diabetes and it's not related to sugar at all. Type 1 is not caused by eating too much sugar ... not relating to poor lifestyle at all,” she said.
For years, Burger had to rely on a lancing device and insulin pen to track her blood sugar and inject insulin respectively and she relayed the bullying and teasing that followed as a result. A lancing device is used to draw blood through pricking a finger while an insulin pen assists with administering insulin as required.
“As I got older, it was a lot tougher on me. I did have depression in my teenage years and had lots of bullying at school, lots of prejudice towards me [and] people not understanding. Even to this day, there's a lot of prejudice around diabetes, especially type 1 and type 2. There's a lot of difference between the two.
“There were times when I did not inject because it was so traumatic, I just wanted to be a normal teenager [and] I landed myself in hospital more times than I can count.
For the past decade or so, life has become easier as she relies on new technology to help her track and administer the much-needed insulin. Burger uses a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and insulin pump technology, which automatically track and administer insulin for her.
The former is similar to the technology distributed by the centre for diabetes and endocrinology (CDE) and is set for a wider rollout at a cheaper cost from May.
CDE CEO Dr Grant Newton explained that the technology, called the first generation flash blood glucose monitoring, has been easily available in the West for some time and leading global producers “have at last allowed access to the technology however, at global dollar-based pricing, [making it] inaccessible to most people in the African/South African market”.
"[The] CDE has taken it upon itself to advocate as the largest distributor of the technology to try to democratise the technology for all those who deserve it and should be entitled to this ground-breaking but inaccessible technology that not only helps daily wellness, but can save lives.
“The mission of the CDE and mine personally and, I have coined this phrase, is that there is 'no need to bleed' every day of your life as a person living with the life-threatening disease — diabetes and its comorbidities.”
The mission of the CDE and mine personally and, I have coined this phrase, is that there is 'no need to bleed' every day of your life as a person living with the life threatening disease — diabetes and its comorbidities.
— Dr Grant Newton, CDE CEO
Newton explained that the technology can be used by any person living with diabetes or “trying to change behaviour for wellness who may be suffering with obesity or other lifestyle challenges”.
Explaining how it works, Newtown said the device is placed on the underarm and then is scanned using either a reader or cellphone “for an instant reading of your latest sugar levels”.
“The new devices will continuously send blood glucose data to an app on your mobile phone. Both of these do not require any bleeding to test whatsoever,” he said.
Burger said: “A flash glucose monitoring device is world-changing ... whether you are just using continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) [without] the insulin pump or not. A lot of these devices actually link to your cellphone and alert you so you can set your parameters on the phone ... so you can react faster to [changing] blood sugars.
“Because at the end of the day, you are trying to avoid long-term complications from diabetes. So the less high blood sugars you have, the better it is. [The device] keeps you within a target bracket that's like the 'sweet spot', where you want to sit. It's definitely life-changing, I can 100% say that it can benefit so many people, whether you are a type 1 diabetic or type 2.”
Despite the description attributed to the technology, it still remains largely inaccessible to a majority of patients in South Africa due to affordability. Newton explained that the CDE is supplying the devices to those on medical aid or who can afford to purchase it, but this will change when it becomes available on their online store from next month at a more affordable price.
“Our mission is to make the technology accessible [and] it is our intention to make the technology accessible to all who need it — we are already discussing the product with the department of health — however, we need some pressure for them to take note and give serious attention to this technology."
Burger, on her part, explained the years-long struggle for organisations such as hers to get medical aids to subsidise members. She pays more than R3,000 just for a box which contains five “sensors”. The costs for the pump are separate.
“Several years ago, the medical aids weren't even paying for a portion of this technology from chronic cover. All of that expense came out of your medical savings account, but now we're at a point where they cover partially out of chronic cover.
“So now I'm speaking specifically for people on medical aid, [those who go to] government hospitals don't necessarily have access to this, because who has access to R3,000? It's incredibly expensive,” she said.
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