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“Insulin, My Best Friend”: How Diabetes Care is Saving Lives in Eastern DRC
A doctor in South Kivu Province, DRC, teaches patients about their diabetes. Insulin, cold storage, and other material medical aid from Direct Relief make it possible for patients to effectively manage the disease.
When patients first visit the Kivu Diabetes Center, they are often hesitant to accept insulin treatment, concerned about monitoring their blood sugar, or convinced they don’t need it. But recently, Dr. Albert Kalehezo has noticed a change.
“I’m seeing good results. My patients are gaining weight, and they tell me that they’re feeling more and more healthy,” he said.
The Kivu Diabetes Center is in Bukavu, a city in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Established in November of 2024 because of the region’s widespread need, the volunteer staff provides patients in the South Kivu Province with free medical care, often beginning by teaching people what diabetes is and how they’ll successfully manage it throughout their lives. More than 150 people have started receiving treatment at the center, and staff hope to eventually reach everyone in their area of the country.
Dr. Kalehezo, Founder and Director of the Kivu Diabetes Center, recalled a patient who had to stop working because he didn’t have the resources to manage his diabetes. Prior to receiving a blood glucose meter from a Direct Relief shipment, the patient was afraid to take insulin without a way to monitor his blood sugar levels.
“Now, he’s confident and trying to restart his job,” Dr. Kalehezo said.
Since early 2025, the severe humanitarian crisis in the eastern area of the DRC has worsened. People with chronic diseases are at particular risk: Conflict between militant groups and the Congolese government led to the closure of the international airport and local banks, which increased financial insecurity and made it much harder for people to access vital medications.
Unable to afford medication or navigate currency inflation, medical centers in the region have struggled to provide adequate care. Diabetes in particular demands regular access to insulin and blood glucose monitoring: disruptions to care can be life-threatening.
Direct Relief first shipped material medical support to the Kivu Diabetes Center in November of 2025. Since then, the organization has supplied the Kivu Diabetes Center with insulin, blood glucose monitors, and testing supplies, and three medical refrigerators for cold-chain storage.
Before the assistance from Direct Relief, patients were able to check their blood glucose levels only once a month, at their scheduled visits. While monitoring needs vary depending on the patient, the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes, or ISPAD, advises children with Type 1 diabetes to monitor their blood glucose at least 6 to 10 times per day. Monthly tests were “far from ideal,” Dr. Kalehezo explained.
The Kivu Diabetes Team visits a patient in Mudaka, South Kivu Province, to provide follow-up care and deliver insulin. (Courtesy photo)
“I was prescribing insulin just to prevent some complications, not to treat as it’s recommended,” he said.
Even with support, the conflict brings terrifying uncertainty, Dr. Kalehezo said: “Imagine the fear of knowing that, at any moment, life can be lost for no reason at all.”
Many patients at the Kivu Diabetes Center have had to cancel appointments because of active gunfire. The stress caused by the sound of bullets can disrupt blood sugar levels, making it crucial to monitor and stabilize, Dr. Kalehezo noted.
But now, with access to test strips, meters, and lancets, Dr. Kalehezo can reduce his patients’ risk of developing hypoglycemia, which occurs when blood glucose levels drop too low. Patients can take insulin in precisely calibrated, preventive doses.
“That’s the happiness of my job: I see how people progress. I see how the treatment changes lives,” Dr. Kalehezo said.
Reaching the DRC with Medicines, Education
Dr. Kalehezo also noted that Direct Relief supplied the center with newer-generation insulins that more closely replicate the normal secretions of the pancreas than what was previously available. Because the injections are less painful and easier to use, patients have been more willing to accept and follow treatment.
This is especially important given the major challenges that Dr. Kalehezo and his staff face when treating diabetes. Besides financial constraints, misinformation is his patients’ biggest obstacle to healthcare access.
Dr. Kalehezo described a patient who arrived at the Kivu Diabetes Center convinced that his condition would only improve if he refused insulin. False information from some traditional medicine practitioners led the patient to believe that one day, his disease would eventually disappear.
Education takes time and care: Dr. Kalehezo explained that his team loses “valuable time before initiating appropriate treatments.” Before they can begin treatments, they must first convince patients that Type 1 diabetes is a lifelong health condition that needs insulin to be managed effectively.
To combat misinformation, Dr. Kalehezo and his staff center their model of care around therapeutic patient education.
On the last Friday of every month, patients with Type 1 diabetes gather for Kivu’s monthly diabetes club. They begin with therapeutic education focused on diabetes management, followed by an open exchange of experiences. Then, the club moves into discussion about economic and income-generating activities, and the “older or more experienced patients naturally mentor the younger ones, offering advice, encouragement, and practical tips,” Dr. Kalehezo said.
Mothers of children with Type 1 diabetes ask questions during a presentation at the Mater DEI Parish church. Dr. Kalehezo conducts frequent information sessions to educate patients and families about successfully managing the disease. (Courtesy photo)
Beyond the center’s educational care model, the Kivu Diabetes team often travels to different areas and villages in Bukavu for home visits and group presentations.
As the Kivu Diabetes Center in the DRC has become more established, it has received calls from patients and organizations far away, wanting information about Type 1 diabetes. Dr. Kalehezo, looking for a way to spread life-saving information, composed a song titled “Insulin, Mon Meilleur Ami.” (French is the country’s official language and among its most widely spoken.) In English, this translates to “Insulin, My Best Friend.”
The song contains instructions on injecting insulin, as well as common symptoms of low blood sugar and how to identify diabetes in adolescents. The chorus says:
“Diabetes is not the end of the world. Taking my insulin every day, it’s what keeps me alive, by following my diet and doing sports. My blood sugar must remain stable, to prevent complications. I move forward, and my dreams remain possible.”
The song “Insulin, My Best Friend,” which Dr. Kalehezo wrote for patients learning to manage diabetes.
« Le diabète, ce n’est pas la fin du monde. Prendre mon insuline chaque jour, C’est ce qui me maintient en vie, En respectant mon régime et en faisant du sport. Ma glycémie doit rester stable, pour prévenir les complications. J’avance et mes rêves restent possibles. »
“Care, Not Fear”
The Kivu Diabetes team is rapidly expanding its outreach and building a cohesive treatment strategy in eastern DRC. When asked about their goals for the future, Dr. Kalehezo outlined a two-step plan his medical center is working toward. “It’s a process,” he said. “We can’t do everything in two or three years.”
That first step is to identify all people in the area living with diabetes and make sure they are aware of the resources available, including the role insulin plays in diabetes management. Once patients come to accept insulin as a life-saving treatment, the center can move on to the second step: preventing complications and helping patients live their lives to the fullest.
“Diabetes is part of their reality, but it should not limit their hope. It simply requires that they live their lives with awareness and care, not fear,” Dr. Kalehezo said.
Dr. Kalehezo poses with a young patient during his first visit to the Kivu Diabetes Center. (Courtesy photo)
When he spoke to Direct Relief, Dr. Kalehezo was completing the Allan Drash Clinical Fellowship in Luxembourg, where he is learning how to treat diabetes patients with a CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) and insulin pump.
“I think that in the future, we can implement this kind of care in our city,” he said.
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