Diabetes News
Dear Reader: Not very happy news revealed by the National Diabetes Foundation. Here is the articled as published by Samantha Rina of Fiji Times Online
Rise in diabetes a concern
A FOUR-FOLD increase in the number of people living with diabetes mellitus has been recorded over the past 25 years.
This was yesterday revealed by the National Diabetes Foundation which conducted a survey in November last year.
The survey revealed that cases with family history of diabetes increased from four to 16 per cent of the same period.
Foundation chairman Dr Wahid Khan stated in the report that only 30 per cent of the 297 diabetic patients interviewed were well controlled and only 25 per cent maintained their weight within normal limits. Of the 297 surveyed, 232 were Indians, 58 Fijians and 7 were of other races. 189 were females and 108 were males.
Commenting on the survey, Dr Neil Sharma, head of the Health Ministry, said the growing rate of diabetes in Fiji was alarming compared to Australia’s five per cent.
“There are high number of cases with a family history of diabetes and we are failing to pick that up. There is also a denial among communities who don’t seek help until the disease is advanced,” Dr Sharma said.
As a result, Dr Sharma said Fiji was losing a significant amount of people through premature deaths.
“This affects national development. We need a healthy nation that is able to work so we need to rethink how we are going to tackle this problem like re-strategising health promotion activities,” he said.
Dr Sharma said there was also a need for a collective effort for people in Fiji to move towards a healthy lifestyle.
The report stated that there had been no substantive research on the subject since 1985.
This article is brought to you by Emilia Klapp, RD, BS
Your Diabetes Coach
www.MediterraneanDietForTheHeart.com
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