PIMS to hold seminar on control of diabetes

Islamabad
The Department of General Medicine at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) is holding a seminar here today (Friday) to raise awareness regarding prevention, management and control of diabetes.
The department being headed by Professor Dr. Jamal Zafar is organising the seminar in connection with World Diabetes Day being observed on November 14 around the globe.
Physicians and dieticians will brief the attendees of the seminar about the dietary and lifestyle modifications, monitoring blood glucose levels, importance of regular follow-ups, and suggestions on how to avoid risk factors and health complications caused by diabetes.
Professor Jamal informed ‘The News’ that the audience of the seminar would also be given briefings by experts on how the primary prevention of diabetes can be made possible by modifying risk factors such as obesity and insulin resistance.
He said that diabetes is a major lifestyle disorder, the prevalence of which is increasing globally. Asian countries contribute to more than 60 per cent of the world’s diabetic population as the prevalence of diabetes is increasing in these countries.
He believes that socio-economic growth and industrialization are rapidly occurring in many of the countries across Asia and the urban-rural divide in prevalence is narrowing as urbanization is spreading widely, adversely affecting the lifestyle of populations. Asians have a strong ethnic and genetic predisposition for diabetes and have lower thresholds for the environmental risk factors. As a result, they develop diabetes at a younger age and at a lower body mass index and waist circumference when compared with the Western population, explained Professor Jamal.
He said World Diabetes Day is the primary global awareness campaign of diabetes world and is held on November 14 each year with a theme related to diabetes. Topics covered have included diabetes and human rights, diabetes and lifestyle, diabetes and obesity, diabetes in the disadvantaged and the vulnerable, diabetes in children and adolescents. This year the theme is Act today to change tomorrow, he said.
Professor Jamal said people with diabetes should take a day off from work or school on this day and spend time on talking about Diabetes. World Diabetes Day is celebrated worldwide by over 230 member associations of the International Diabetes Federation in more than 160 countries and territories, all member states of the United Nations, as well as by other associations and organizations, companies, healthcare professionals and people living with diabetes and their families.
Deputy Director at PIMS Dr. Waseem Ahmed Khawaja said in 2014, an estimated 387 million people have diabetes worldwide, with type 2 diabetes making up about 90 per cent of the cases. This represents 8.3 per cent of the adult population, with equal rates in both women and men.