Today is world Diabetes Day( WDD) commemorated throughout the world on the 14th of November every year to draw attention of all people in the world about the rising Diabetes epidemic.
About half billion people (537 million ) has Diabetes in the world as at this year and this number is expected to almost double by the end of the year 2050 if aggressive control strategies are not instituted by haelth policymakers,communities and individuals.The prevalence of Diabetes among adults in Nigeria is rising and range from 3 – 5% which is huge considering the large population of our country.
To further highlights how endemic Diabetes is fast becoming,1 out if every 10 adults has diabetes and more than half of these people are not aware because they remain undiagnosed.
Although Diabetes has some symptoms including excessive thirt,frequent urination and weight loss,the diagnosis is only confirmed through a simple blood sugar test which is quite easy to perform with a glucometer which provides instant result in less than a minute.The ease of testing blood sugar has greatly made diagnosis to be made and confirmed at most healthcare centres in both urban and rural centres throughout the world.
Diagnosing Diabetes early allows healthcare workers to commence treatment early and prevent life threatening complications like blindness,kidney failure,heart attack,stroke or limb amputation.This has great implications for healthcare cost,starting treatment early and avoiding very expensive and life threatening complications like the need for dialysis or kidney transplant.
The theme of 2022 World Diabetes Day is *Access to Diabetes care:if Not Now when ?* The first point to accessing Diabetes care for everyone is to do a simple sugar test to find out if the sugar level is high or normal. If the sugar level is high,there is need to start treatment early to prevent the chronic complications already listed above .The only definitive way to know if someone has Diabetes is by doing a simple blood sugar test which could be done at every healthcare facility including primary healthcare centres.
If you are more than 40 years of age there is a chance that your sugar level could be higher than normal especially if you are obese and have a blood relative with Diabetes.
As part of awareness by the Diabetes care community in Nigeria 🇳🇬,we urge all adults more than 40 years of age to use the occasion of world Diabetes Day 2022 to check their blood sugar level in any health care facility close to them and see a Doctor with the result for interpretation and necessary advice.
Dr Mijinyawa Bashir is a
Consultant Physician and a Public Affairs Analyst.
