Lions clubs organise diabetes screening for Nungua traders
ELEVEN Lions clubs in Ghana have organised a diabetes screening for traders at the Nungua market to mark World Diabetes Day.
The exercise was to give the traders the opportunity to check their sugar levels and their blood pressure.
The clubs are Accra Diamond, Accra Golden, Accra Spintex, Accra Ultimate, Legon, Tema, Accra Ebony, Accra Metro, Tema Supreme, Accra Gye Nyame and Greenwich.
The President of the Accra Diamond Lions Club, one of the organising clubs, Lion Kobina Dabi Appiah, in an interview, said diabetes was one of the major areas of focus of the Lions clubs, hence the decision by members to carry out this free exercise for the traders.
Lions Clubs pay specific attention to protecting the eye and preventing blindness, focuses on diabetes, youth, the environment and addresses hunger.
"Diabetes is the main. Some years ago when Lionism was formed, it was the eye, but research shows that diabetes is the major cause of all eye-related issues so why not tackle the root cause before it gets to the eye treatment," he said.
He said Lions Clubs International, the umbrella organisation of Lions Clubs, with its headquarters in the United States of America, was focusing on diabetes, and as a result every November worldwide, every Lions Club was supposed to undertake a diabetes activity.
He said provision was made for over 1,000 traders due to the importance of knowing one’s sugar level and to ensure that people were healthy while going about their busy schedules.
He said those who took part in the screening and were found to have higher levels were referred to the hospital to seek early treatment.
Other activities
Outlining the club's activities, he said, the Lions clubs were committed to serving people and had scheduled a number of activities throughout the year to help achieve this.
He said the clubs would host its annual reliving of the hunger project in December where over 2,000 children would be fed free of charge.
He also debunked rumours that the Lions clubs organisation was a form of a secret society and explained that people were welcomed to join, once they had the passion to serve humanity.
He said the greatest benefit of being a member or the club was the satisfaction derived from being part of any effort to help and serve people.
World Diabetes Day
World Diabetes Day (WDD) is the primary global awareness campaign focusing on diabetes mellitus and is held on November 14 each year.
Led by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), WDD unites the global diabetes community to produce a powerful voice for diabetes awareness and advocacy.
The campaign aims to reflect the realities of dealing with a chronic condition.
It is estimated that one in two people currently living with diabetes are undiagnosed but early diagnosis and treatment are key to preventing the complications of diabetes and achieving healthy outcomes.