• Item type: Guideline/policy recommendation
• Language: English
• Author: International Diabetes Federation
• Target audience: All health professionals
• Publication Date: Dec, 2015
• GDM-model-of-care-2015.pdf(1.39 MB)

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a severe and neglected threat to maternal and child health. India is one of the diabetes capitals of the world, and has among the highest rates of women with GDM, with more than 5 million women affected in the country each year.

The International Diabetes Federation's Women in India with GDM Strategy (WINGS) project is the first-ever strategy to tackle the rising prevalence of GDM in India. This project aimed to develop a context-adapted model approach to care in low-resource settings which confronts the widespread challenges in GDM screening and management. The project developed a standardised approach to GDM care, seeking to improve the health outcomes of women with GDM and their new-borns, strengthening the capacity of selected health facilities to address GDM. This included developing additional materials for health outreach workers.

The IDF GDM Model of Care was piloted in seven urban and rural collaborating health centres in Tamil Nadu State (South India), from June 2012 to December 2015. It has been developed using best practice of care and established clinical guidelines and has been adapted and made available to other low and middle-income countries worldwide.

The guidelines provide practical information to healthcare providers from different countries on how to implement the IDF approach to care for GDM in their own clinics.

The WINGS project has been developed through a partnership between the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF) in Chennai, India, and the Abbott Fund, the philanthropic foundation of the global healthcare company Abbott.