RSG Moves To Curb Diabetes

The Rivers State Government has restated its readiness to work with all stakeholders in the health  sector to reduce the burden of diabetes and its complications through various public enlightenment and intervention programmes.
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Theophilus Odagme, who gave this assurance in a state-wide broadcast to mark this year’s World Health Day, with the theme: “Beat Diabetes”, yesterday in Port Harcourt, regretted that the state has about the highest prevalence rate of the disease in the country.
Odagme emphasized that diabetes is caused by a prolonged exposure to high sugar level, which compromises major organs of the body, causing heart disease, nervous system damage, kidney failure, blindness, impotence, infections that lead to amputation of limbs, among others.
He stressed that in 2008, an estimated 347 million people globally had diabetes, adding that in 2012, diabetes became the direct cause of some 1.5million deaths, with over 80 per cent occurring in developing countries.
The commissioner said that the symptoms include frequent urination, drinking of water, and weight loss, noting that the two main types of diabetes include: type 1, in which patients no longer produce insulin, and only depend on injection of insulin for survival, while type 2, with patients able to produce their own insulin, but unable to properly utilize same due mainly to overweight.
According to the commissioner, a large proportion of diabetic cases are preventable, and can be treated by simple lifestyle measures of maintaining normal body weight, regular exercises, and eating healthy diet.
He added that increasing access to diagnosis, self-management education, and affordable treatment, and urged concerted efforts to prevent and treat diabetes to achieve the sustainable development goals as well as reduce premature mortality from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by one third in 2030.
The commissioner enjoined all sectors of the economy to play major roles in reducing  the spread of the epidemic in the state.
It would be recalled that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has projected that diabetes would be the 7th leading cause of death globally by 2030.

Susan Serekara-Nwikhana