WHO recommendations:

1. Point of care devices can be used in diagnosing diabetes if laboratory services are not available.
2. Advise overweight patients to reduce weight by reducing their food intake.
3. Advise all patients to give preference to low glycemic index foods (beans, lentils, oats and unsweetened fruit) as the source of carbohydrate in their diet.
4. Advise all patients to practice regular daily physical activity appropriate for their physical capabilities (e.g., walking).
5. Metformin can be used as a first-line oral hypoglycemic agent in patients with T2DM who are not controlled by diet only and who do not have renal insufficiency, liver disease or hypoxia.
6. Give SUs to patients who have contraindications to metformin or in whom metformin does not improve glycemic control.
7. Prescribe a DPP-4i, SGLT2i or a TZD, if insulin is unsuitable.
8. Prescribe regular human insulin, NPH insulin or both to achieve glycemic control in patients with type 1 diabetes and in adults with type 2 diabetes for whom insulin is indicated.
9. Prescribe long-acting insulin analogues when patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes experience frequent, severe hypoglycemia with regular or NPH insulin alone.
10. Give patients health education on foot hygiene, nail cutting, treatment of calluses, appropriate footwear.
11. Educate healthcare workers on assessment of feet at risk of ulcers using simple methods.
12. Persons with T2DM should be screened for diabetic retinopathy when diabetes is diagnosed and every 2 years thereafter, or as recommended by the ophthalmologist.