Diabetes kills 100,000 annually in Pakistan

Rawalpindi :A tremendous increase in rates of diabetes prevalence and incidence has been witnessed in Pakistan in last few years and according to estimates, the health problem claims not less than 100,000 lives annually of which majority are women.

Currently over 199 million women are living with diabetes and this total is expected to rise up to 313 million by 2040. Diabetes is the ninth cause of death in women globally, causing 2.1 million deaths each year. One in seven births is affected by gestational diabetes (GDM). Many women with GDM experience pregnancy related complications including high blood pressure, low birth weight babies and obstructed labour.

The reasons behind sharp increase in number of cases of the disease in Pakistan are absence of effective health policy, non-existence of a National Programme for Diabetes Control, absence of national diabetes registry, modern lifestyles, use of unbalanced and unhealthy diet, increasing trend of consumption of junk and fast food, soft drinks, smoking, overweight, obesity, physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyle, stress and depression, changing sleeping patterns especially among young and lack of periodic check up of blood sugar level. Obesity tops the list. Both short (less than 6 hour) and long (greater than 9 hour) sleep durations may be considered as a higher risk of developing type-2 diabetes. Head of Community Medicine at CMH Lahore Medical College Professor Dr Muhammad Ashraf Chaudhry expressed this while talking to ‘The News’ on Monday in connection with World Diabetes Day being observed on November 14 around the globe.

Diabetes awareness month is held every November and World Diabetes Day is observed on November 14 every year. “Women and diabetes: our right to healthy future” is the theme for World Diabetes Day 2017. The WDD campaign will promote the importance of affordable and equitable access for all women with diabetes or at risk to the essential diabetes medicines and technologies, self-management education and information they require to achieve optimal diabetes outcomes and strengthen their capacity to prevent diabetes.

According to Dr. Ashraf, diabetes is difficult. Managing your diabetes in order to live a long and healthy life involves looking closely at your lifestyle and making changes if needed. Making healthy food choices and staying physically active is the cornerstone of managing diabetes, he said. He explained that healthy diet, regular physical activity, maintaining a normal body weight and avoiding tobacco use can prevent or delay the onset of type-2 diabetes.