Reclaim your freedom from the fingerstick

#FingerStickFree advocates for South African medical aids to include life-changing sensor technology (Continuous Glucose Monitoring) for people living with diabetes.

Reclaim your freedom from the fingerstick

#FingerStickFree advocates for South African Medical Aids to include life-changing Continuous or Flash Glucose Monitoring as a Prescribed Minimum Benefit for people living with Diabetes.

What does it mean to be #FingerStickFree?

BEFORE SENSING TECHNOLOGY WAS AVAILABLE

BUT JUST IMAGINE...

How sensing technology helps people living with Diabetes

Pain free monitoring

Flash glucose monitoring allows you to conveniently check your glucose with a painless, 1-second scan of your CGM or FGM device using your phone instead of fingersticks!

Preventative-care

The glucose monitoring systems on sensing technology devices provide healthcare professionals with deeper insights and allow for informed treatment decisions.

Live the life you want

Live life without painful finger testing, make informed data-driven decisions and be free to enjoy your favourite activities with empowered insight on your own health.

  • The device lets you see your glucose levels 24 hours a day

  • No need to stick your finger five times a day

  • No more squeezing out a drop of blood for each reading

  • Simply scan the device for flash glucose monitoring (FGM)

  • Or send the reading to your phone for continuous glucose monitoring (CGM)

  • Many medical aids are delaying in deciding whether to pay for FGM and CGM even though they know these devices can help their members.

  • We put pressure on medical aids through the petition to encourage them to make this choice.

Diabetes should not be lethal in South Africa, but it’s still the leading killer of women and the second most common cause of death in men in South Africa. More people die from Diabetes than from TB, HIV, and malaria put together. *

What does it mean to be #FingerStickFree?

BEFORE SENSOR TECHNOLOGY WAS AVAILABLE:

How sensor technology helps people living with diabetes

Pain-free monitoring

Continuous Glucose Monitoring allows you to conveniently check your glucose levels, with real-time readings automatically updated every minute and sent directly to your smartphone.

Get medical aid cover

BUT JUST IMAGINE...

Preventative care

Glucose monitoring from sensing technology provides healthcare professionals with deeper insights
and allows for more informed
treatment decisions.

Why sensing technology is so extraordinary

  • The device lets you see your glucose levels 24 hours a day

  • It gives you direction arrows so you know if your glucose is stable, or going up or down

  • No need to prick your finger five (or more) times a day

  • Simply scan the device for flash glucose monitoring (FGM)

  • Or send the reading to your phone for continuous glucose monitoring (CGM)

But there’s a problem

  • Many medical aids are delaying official decisions whether to pay for sensor technology even though they know these devices can help their members.

  • We need a cohesive voice for each medical aid to consistently advocate for sensor technology to be covered for members with diabetes.

  • Individual action is effective, but collective action is even more effective.

Understand your diabetes

Here’s how it works

Quality of life

The freedom of having 24 hours of blood glucose data every day, as opposed to a few fingersticks, means you can understand your blood glucose better - which makes life with diabetes better.

Make essential changes

Here’s how it works

Get Medical Aid Cover

Own Your Overall Health

Make Real Change Happen

Be part of the community

Join the #FingerStickFree movement and add your voice to the call of many other people living with Diabetes. Together, we can make an impact and help gain more access to CGM or FGM for all members of our community.

Read Expert Medical Opinions

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Be part of the community

Join the #FingerStickFree movement and add your voice to all the South Africans with diabetes advocating for sensor technology. Together, we can make an impact and help gain more access for all members of our community.

What do the healthcare professionals say?

  • ..for the first time people living with diabetes can obtain a view into the working of their bodies..

    “This has perhaps yielded the greatest advance, and for the first time people living with diabetes can obtain a view into the working of their bodies, to link interventions with outcomes. Continuous glucose monitoring technologies have been proven to improve diabetes self-management, reduce deadly low glucose reactions, improve overall glucose control, and reduce short and long-term complications of diabetes. No other technology has had such a dramatic impact on diabetes.”

    - Prof David Segal

  • ...it helps them to understand their daily patterns better...

    "The ability to see glucose levels continuously has been of great benefit to both the patients and to me in helping them manage their glucose levels. For the patients, it helps them to understand their daily patterns better and also helps them to be aware of hypoglycemic episodes a lot faster. There is no doubt that this is the future of diabetes management, and potentially all patients should be given access to them.”

    Dr Wayne May

  • ...Sensors are an ideal monitoring tool which will help the patients as well as their physicians taking care of them...

    "There is very good scientific evidence that diabetic control improves markedly when sensor technology is added...Sensors are an ideal monitoring tool which will help the patients as well as their physicians taking care of them... It also improves the quality of life for the diabetic and saves massively on strips.

    (The most cost-effective option is the Libre sensor from Abbott and I would prefer the second or third version. - leave out if don't want to specifically advocate for this brand) I cannot over-emphasise the importance of this as it will reduce retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy and ischemic heart disease and can save millions of rands as well as improve survival.”

    Dr Landi Lombard

  • ...It's really akin to the magic wand for diabetes control...

    "I have not had a single patient not benefit on many, many levels from accurate CGM. It's really akin to the magic wand for diabetes control. Yes, I sound lyrical. Have you ever felt a hypo? Have you ever battled constant high sugars and what comes with those physically, mentally, emotionally and the impact on the spouse, the children, the teachers, the siblings? CGM is an excellent and proven scientific tool in the bag for diabetes.”

    - Dr Claudine Nandi Lee

  • ...Truly a major impact on the quality of the mother's life as well...

    "After introduction of CGM she (the mother of a patient living with diabetes) could keep an eye without interrupting his school attendance, sports participation and even sleep. Truly a major impact on the quality of her life as well.

    Just as an afterthought: 6 finger sticks per day plus 4 injections per day = 300 needle exposures per month and 3650 needle exposures per year. I trust that you will agree from the above that CGM is not a “nice to have” anymore, but a necessity in the management of Diabetes Mellitus, especially for patients on insulin therapy.”

    - Dr Wimpie de Lange