Good news for persons living with diabetes. Trinidad and Tobago has become the first English-speaking Caribbean nation to introduce Roche’s groundbreaking Accu-Chek SmartGuide, a real-time glucose monitoring solution designed to transform diabetes care by offering predictive insights that better help individuals control their blood sugar levels and overall health.
At the official launch of ACCU-CHEK on Tuesday, Commercial Business Manager for Roche Diagnostics, Andrea Henry, explained that the new glucose monitoring aid aims to provide innovative solutions for diabetes management, offering resources designed to help diabetics fully function in everyday life.
“This is a solution I think would help us to impact our mission of improving healthcare in the region.”
Manager of Business for the English Caribbean at Roche, Vanessa Farfan, described the product as a breakthrough innovation for diabetics, enabling accurate blood sugar readings without the need for traditional diabetic test strips.
“This is something that they have to check several times a day. What this allows a patient to do is apply it to their arm, and our device lasts for two weeks, 14 days, and it can give them the readings. It really is life-changing. And while it may not necessarily reduce the prevalence of diabetes, it will increase the management of diabetes and patients’ understanding how, when they eat a doubles, how it’s going to affect their blood sugar, or if they eat late at night, how it could potentially affect them.”
ROCHE member Raquel Porras outlined three core components of the product, noting that together they address key challenges faced by patients including the need for frequent glucose monitoring, ongoing episodes of hypo- and hyperglycaemia, and the difficulty of understanding how factors such as diet, illness, and insulin dosage affect overall management.
“It’s very easy to use. And the components are, on the first place, a sensor, which is going to be used in the back part of the arm. The sensor is very easy to use. You will have the experience tonight, hopefully. And it connects with two apps. The first app is the Smart Guide app. This app is going to allow us to see what’s happening in real time. But it also has another layer of value, which is the Predict app.”
She added that the Predict app works by gathering patient data and transforming it into accurate, practical forecasts to support better diabetes management.