Diabetes: A threatening global healthcare problem
November 14 is celebrated annually as World Diabetes Day (WDD), an official United Nations World Health Day; a day which has been dedicated by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and its member associations to create awareness of diabetes.
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The event is marked on November 14 to celebrate the birthday of Frederick Banting, the one who in 1921 discovered insulin, a drug that revolutionised and changed the management of diabetes forever.
Several reasons come to mind when I think about why a whole day must be dedicated to diabetes awareness. The first is the fact that the global prevalence and incidence of diabetes is high and is rapidly increasing.
Diabetes mellitus (DM) threatens to become a global healthcare problem. In 2000, there were 171 million people with diabetes and by 2030, the estimates show that there will be 366 million people with diabetes, showing a doubling of the figures in a single generation. This increase will be most noticeable in developing countries like Ghana.
Available data
Indeed, available data shows this to be true. One of the earliest recorded studies in Ghana in 1958 showed a prevalence of 0.4 per cent, at the time diabetes was thought to be rare in Africans and was a disease of the developed world. Fifty years later in Ghana, a prevalence study showed a prevalence rate as 6.3 per cent.
Secondly, in spite of the high prevalence rate of diabetes globally, about 50 per cent of people with diabetes do not know they have the disease.
Alarmingly, in Ghana, more than 70 per cent of people with diabetes are unaware they have this disease. This is because diabetes has a long latent period and often patients do not have any symptoms at all. It is, therefore, not rare to find a patient for the first time in the hospital with a complication associated with diabetes e.g. blindness, stroke, kidney failure or a “rotten foot” that requires amputation.
Diabetes mellitus, simply known as diabetes, is a chronic disease that occurs when the body is unable to produce a hormone called insulin or when the body cannot make good use of the insulin it produces. This results in high blood glucose or sugar, which destroys various body organs like the eyes, kidney, nerves and heart.
Insulin is a hormone produced by an organ in the abdomen called the pancreas. All carbohydrates or starchy foods eaten are broken down into glucose in the blood and glucose can only enter the cells of our body with the help of insulin. Simply put, insulin acts like a key to let glucose from the food we eat pass from the blood stream into the cells in the body to be used as energy.
Types of diabetes
There are two main types of diabetes. In Type 1 diabetes mellitus, the pancreas is destroyed and there is often no insulin in the body; such people will need insulin injections to live. Type 1 diabetes often occurs in younger people, although older people can get it too.
In Type 2 DM, the more common type of diabetes which accounts for about 90 – 95 per cent of those with diabetes mellitus, such individuals may have insulin secreted in the body but the body is unable to use the insulin effectively to reduce the blood glucose. Such people are often treated with oral medications. However, these people may require insulin injections at some point in their life.
Although some people will have diabetes without any symptoms, others have symptoms but are unaware of what these symptoms mean.
The symptoms of diabetes include frequent urination, excessive thirst and drinking a lot of water, increased hunger, weight loss, tiredness, lack of interest and concentration, tingling sensation or numbness in the hands or feet, blurred vision, frequent infections and slow-healing wounds, amongst others.
If you show these signs and symptoms, please consult a health professional to be tested for diabetes.
Risk factors
Certain risk factors increase your chances of getting diabetes in the future. Some of these are a family history of diabetes, being overweight or obese with a high waist circumference, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, increasing age, high blood pressure, history of gestational diabetes or giving birth to a big baby greater than 4.1kgs.
Diabetes affects all age groups, from newborn babies to old people. It is becoming increasingly common in young people because of childhood obesity and reduced physical activity in children. It is a killer disease and rivals HIV/AIDS in its death toll.
Every seven seconds, a person dies from diabetes-related causes. Thankfully, diabetes is preventable by weight reduction, eating a healthy diet and increasing physical activity
Why the blue circle
The blue circle is the universal symbol for diabetes, originally developed for the campaign that resulted in the United Nations resolution 61/255, further resulting in celebration of World Diabetes Day around the globe today.
Across several cultures, the circle represents health and life, significant for the diabetes campaign. However, the circle represents unity, the unity that the global diabetes community exhibited for the UN resolution to be passed and the unity that is required to halt the growing pandemic of diabetes.
Diabetes and its complications are largely preventable and there are proven, affordable interventions available. Everyone must be concerned and everyone has a role to play in helping to turn the tide of diabetes to protect our future.
If you have any of the symptoms or risk factors for diabetes, it is important to get screened. If you do not have symptoms, today being World Diabetes Day, consider getting screened, for sometimes you may have diabetes without any symptoms. Remember that more than 70 per cent of people with diabetes in Ghana do not know they have diabetes and some people present to the hospitals for the first time with complications of diabetes.
