- It’s high time government at all levels created awareness on prevention of diabetes
November 14 is observed worldwide as World Diabetes Day, to call global attention to the causes, effects and preventive measures and management of diabetes mellitus. It is believed that about 500 million people are living with the disease worldwide and sadly, more people are coming down with the disease daily around the world.
Ondo State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Wahab Adegbenro, during this year’s event stated that about 20 percent of the citizens in the state are living with diabetes. This is quite alarming and we want to believe that being in the same country with almost the same lifestyles, consumption patterns and other similar causative factors, the whole country might be predisposed dangerously to the same alarming or even worse statistics.
Diabetes mellitus is a disease that prevents the body from properly using the energy from the foods consumed. There are two conditions that can lead to the disease. The pancreas might produce insufficient or even no insulin – a vital hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreas which helps the body to use sugar for energy. On the other hand, the pancreas might even produce insulin but it still does not work optimally. This is often referred to as insulin resistance.
There are different types of diabetes; type 1 occurs mainly in children, type 2 is an adult onset diabetes, there is also the gestational diabetes that affects pregnant women under certain conditions like over 35s, obesity in pregnancy, history of polycystic ovarian syndrome, genetic history and the use of certain steroids contained in medications. Type 2 diabetes can also be caused by abnormal blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, age, history of gestational diabetes and smoking.
Wrong diets, lack of physical activities, large and uncontrolled consumption of sugar sweetened drinks, saturated fats, trans fats, excessive consumption of white rice and other starchy foods are top on the list of the causes of type 2 diabetes, which in turn leads to other dire health conditions often leading to death when not properly managed.
However, we commend the commissioner for raising the red flag on diabetes but this must be a wakeup call to all health ministries and other agencies in charge of foods and drugs in Nigeria. There is an urgent need for strict regulations on certain sugar-laden fizzy drinks consumed by Nigerians. There is an urgent need to compel the manufacturers of these drinks to properly indicate the sugar and alcohol content on every serving no matter the packaging.
We are aware that former New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, had proposed the Sugary Drinks Portion Cap Rule otherwise known as the Soda Ban to limit the amount of soft drinks that can be served everywhere in New York to just 16 ounces (0.47liters) in restaurants, theatres and all other public places. It was a commendable move aimed at restricting the consumption of these sugary drinks by the citizens and assist in not only raising awareness about the effects of excessive sugar in the body but saving the state huge losses in deaths, disabilities and management of diabetics.
Beyond strict regulations, government at all levels must creatively start a massive awareness campaign across the country to educate Nigerians on healthy dietary habits, need for physical activities and reduction in smoking or total stoppage. Producers of consumer items can also be forced through laws to indicate that excessive consumption of certain foods and drinks can result in the development of type 2 diabetes. In a largely illiterate population, there is need to possibly use communities, markets, churches, mosques, schools and other social gatherings to create awareness.
Prevention, they say, is better than cure and as such, all efforts must be made by all the health institutions concerned to save citizens from themselves literally because all health matters ultimately affect the nation generally. The 20% statistics of those living with diabetes might even be conservative figure in a country not known for correct data collection and exact statistics. The time to act is now.
