KARACHI: International and national diabetes specialists have expressed concern on alarming increase of diabetes in both urban and rural areas of Pakistan, and stressed the need of educating people and caregivers about this disease.
Speaking at a Sanofi’s Diabetes Conference, a panel of medical experts led by Secretary General of the Diabetic Association of Pakistan and Honorary President International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Prof Samad Shera said number of diabetes cases have almost doubled as compared to the figures of a survey conducted in 1990’s. Currently 24 per cent population of Pakistan is living with diabetes.
He said diabetes cases are alarmingly increasing in both urban and rural areas of the country due to change in lifestyle, excessive use of cell phones and televisions.
He explained that in past the incidence of diabetes was high in urban areas of Pakistan like other countries but now with the lifestyle modification, health situation overall the country has changed.
Prof Samad Shera stressed the need of adopting a healthier lifestyle and regular screening for diabetes, particularly for those at high risk. He urged the Pakistanis to follow the IDF slogan ‘Eat less, walk more’.
He said coordinated efforts of policymakers, people with diabetes, paramedics, physicians, press and partnerships are essential to control the increasing burden of diabetes.
President International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Prof Nam Han Cho said medical education is the key to prevent diabetes as its kill more people than other diseases. He said education of patients and care givers can help to reduce the burden of disease.
President Croatian Society for Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases Dr Dario Rahelic said undiagnosed diabetic patients are a real challenge for majority of the countries of world as only few countries had succeeded to diagnose all patients while a good number of countries are still facing problems to diagnose-hidden cases.
Senior Program Advisor, International Diabetes Federation (IDF), Prof Massimo Massi Benedetti- said, “Today, plenty of gold medalists at the Olympics have diabetes. Fear of hypoglycemia is impacting behavior that has negative consequences on the onset of complications. Insulin therapy should be initiated quite soon when control is not achieved through oral agents. Doctors should focus on personalized needs of the patient when considering insulin therapy.”
Sanofi and the Diabetic Association of Pakistan (DAP) collaborated to bring renowned international diabetes experts from globally recognized centres of academic excellence to address the 5th International Diabetes Conference.
The conference, now in its fifth consecutive year, was held in 3 cities of Pakistan: Lahore (April 1), Islamabad (April 3) and Karachi (April 5).
A cumulative audience of around 700 healthcare professionals attended the conference at the three venues along with a further almost 200 that connected digitally. Sanofi’s Diabetes conference gathered the global diabetes experts onto a common platform to share their opinions, insights, perspectives and best practices with healthcare professionals from across Pakistan.
Diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate in Pakistan. According to the IDF Diabetes Atlas (8th edition – 2017) there are currently more than 7.5 million people with diabetes in Pakistan.