Belize

In the Central-American country of Belize, diabetes is the number-one killer. Sargent students and professors traveled to San Pedro Columbia to try and reduce the burden of this deadly disease.

In a classroom filled with wide-eyed school children, students talked about some of the main risk factors of diabetes: diet, nutrition, and hygiene. Proper education is the first line of defense here to combat one of the world’s deadliest NCDs. Students also had the chance to do some clinical work – screening locals for diabetes and hypertension at a village health center.

In Belize, we learned that you can’t prioritize either prevention or treatment. It’s a false dichotomy. To effectively reduce the burden of diabetes in the country, we need to meet somewhere in the middle – and find a complementary approach.

Learn more about our journey in Belize here!