**1. Introduction**

Diabetes mellitus is a biochemical disorder caused by the defect in insulin secretion, action, or both, resulting in hyperglycemia [1]. Reduced insulin leads to abnormal metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. There are different types of diabetes known globally, namely, type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), gestation diabetes mellitus, and other forms of specific diabetes (e.g., maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY), neonatal diabetes, etc.) [2]. However, this classification may be difficult to locate in Africa due to challenges of diagnosis as well as other forms of diabetes that do not follow the global trend like malnutrition-related diabetes, [3] ketosis prone diabetes [4], and fibrocalculus pancreatic diabetes [5]. T1DM is an immune-mediated condition; however, in African people living in Africa, the picture might look different. Apart from the immunemediated T1DM, which is attributed to most of the patients with type 1 diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa, other patients have diverse forms of type 1 diabetes, which are non-immune-mediated. Few studies done on autoimmunity in T1DM in sub-Saharan Africa showed less than 50% immunogenicity ranging from 30 to 40%. Most of them have a single autoantibody, mainly GAD65. Other forms also fall in the category of T1DM but are not immune mediated.
