The worldwide neighborhood simply marked World Diabetes Day in line with the United Nations’ Decision 61/225. The occasion is instituted to attract consideration to this debilitating illness.
This yr’s theme: “Breaking Obstacles, Bridging Gaps” underpins the dedication to decreasing the danger of diabetes and guaranteeing that each one people who find themselves identified with the illness have entry to equitable, complete, inexpensive and high quality remedy and care.
Sadly, the prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) is rising globally, notably in low and middle-income nations, pushed by elements reminiscent of fast inhabitants development, urbanisation, weight problems, and bodily inactivity.
Estimates from the World Well being Organisation (WHO) point out that in 2022, diabetes affected almost 246 million folks of 30 years and above within the company’s South-East Asia Area.
Based on the well being physique, Nigeria has the best incidence of diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa whereas the African area is estimated to have the best charge of undiagnosed diabetes on the planet.
Diabetes within the area is a severe, persistent and expensive illness that’s estimated to rise to 23.9 million circumstances by 2030.
Additionally, a analysis carried out by the Nationwide Library of Medication in 2018, famous that there had been a rise within the prevalence of DM in Nigeria and all areas of the nation had been affected, with the best prevalence seen within the South-South geopolitical zone.
Although there isn’t a lot details about Nigeria’s diabetes charge in 2024, statistics from the World Financial institution posited that the prevalence of diabetes in Nigeria in 2021 was 3.6 per cent.
This newspaper remembers that in 2016, WHO estimated that 4.3 per cent of Nigerians had diabetes and in 2021, the Worldwide Diabetes Federation (IDF) reported that 3.7 per cent of adults in Nigeria had diabetes.
That is the share of individuals aged 20–79 who’ve sort 1 or sort 2 diabetes.
This yr, Nigeria Demographic Well being Survey (NDHS) discovered that diabetes and hypertension had been among the many essential findings on non-communicable ailments (NCDs).
That is the primary time because the NDHS started in 1990 that NCDs have been tracked as a well being metric for Nigerians.
That is even because the Diabetes Affiliation of Nigeria (DAN) warned that six million Nigerians with diabetes are dealing with existential risk, following the skyrocketing price of healthcare.
The Nationwide President of DAN, Dr. Ejiofor Ugwu, in an announcement to mark the World Diabetes Day, added that 30,000 to 40,000 Nigerians die yearly from the situation.
Like all the things else, the burden of managing diabetes in Nigeria is exacerbated by poverty, low illness consciousness, and restricted healthcare sources.
Instructively, we recognise that over the previous yr, costs of important diabetes drugs and consumables have surged, with insulin prices rising from N4,000 to N18,000 per vial – a 400 per cent rise – rendering crucial care inaccessible for a lot of Nigerians.
It stands to cause that this, undoubtedly, poses a big barrier to optimum diabetes care in Nigeria as majority of sufferers can now not afford care, leading to elevated diabetes issues and untimely deaths.
We all know that these issues not solely impose emotional and monetary burden on people and households but additionally important monetary pressure on healthcare methods.
The WHO categorized diabetes into 4 major sorts: sort 1 diabetes, sort 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes, and different particular varieties of diabetes.
In Africa, the commonest varieties of diabetes are sort 1 and kind 2 and consultants are of the view that the issue in classifying some types of diabetes in Africa could make it troublesome to diagnose sufferers primarily based on the same old medical standards.
The world well being physique attributes the prevalence of diabetes in Nigeria to life-style adjustments, household historical past of diabetes, urbanisation, unhealthy diets, lack of train, tobacco use, and dangerous use of alcohol.
However the WHO stated bridging the service gaps to make sure well timed entry to diabetes care can save lives and care companies must be equitable, complete, accessible, and inexpensive.
Diabetic sufferers usually lack entry to correct remedy and drugs, particularly insulin, leading to avoidable issues.
Issues embody neurological, vascular or visible problems, coronary heart illness, stroke, decrease limb amputation, kidney failure and lots of different persistent circumstances.
The principle signs of diabetes embody elevated thirst, needing to urinate extra usually than ordinary, and elevated starvation.
The shortage of readiness of the nation’s major healthcare methods by way of commonplace administration protocol availability of important medicines, points associated to availability and affordability of high quality diagnostics, and educated healthcare professionals must be remedied instantly.
We lend our voice to that of DAN’s, calling on the federal authorities to take pressing measures, together with subsidising diabetes drugs and consumables to ease sufferers’ monetary burden and reinstating the sugar-sweetened beverage tax, with funds directed in direction of diabetes prevention and care.
Different measures wanted in our opinion, embody conducting a nationwide survey on non-communicable ailments (NCDs) to offer important knowledge for healthcare policy-making and eliminating import taxes on diabetes drugs and consumables to cut back prices.
