Prevalence of disease complications and risk factor monitoring among diabetes and hypertension patients attending chronic disease management programmes in a South African Township

According to WHO data, approximately 27.4% of men and 26.1% of women in South Africa have hypertension 1 , though a higher prevalence of up to 60% has been reported 2 . Studies have estimated a high prevalence of diabetes complications in South Africa including any grade of retinopathy (55.4%), proliferative and pre-proliferative retinopathy (15.6%), cataracts (7.9%), peripheral neuropathy (27.6%), absent foot pulses (8.2%), and amputations (1.4 %) 3 . Diabetic retinopathy was the most common complication 4 .