A coalition, the National Action on Sugar Reduction (NASR), has revealed that diabetes treatment costs Nigerians $4.5bn annually, adding that about 11.2 million Nigerians are still battling the disease.
The coalition, which organised an Art Exhibition to mark the 2023 World Diabetes Day on Monday in Abuja, also re-echoed its call on the government to increase taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages.
Speaking with Journalists, the President of the Diabetes Association of Nigeria (DAN), Dr. Alkali Mohammed, decried the amount spent on diabetes treatment in the country and called for increased awareness, education, and access to healthcare services for those affected by the disease.
“In a better analysis in Nigeria, we have up to 11.2 million, but we all know it is an under-reflection of what is happening. We have much more but the most important thing is that for us to know that it is there and we need to do something.
“That something may reduce the figure and that’s why I said we all know that over 90 percent of diabetes are type two which are subject to modification by lifestyle modification. So, where does the coalition come in? Well, of course, lifestyle modification, increased physical activity, and healthy eating. We’re talking about sugar.
“We don’t need to be told, we don’t need to rise as a group to fight we know that sugars are not healthy to eat and we know also that the amount of sugars in the sweetened beverages that we consume, sometimes we wonder what is the target because the amount they put is beyond add for taste. So, I think it is high time we put effort together to discourage consumption of sugar by increasing the tax,” he said.
Also speaking, the President, Nigeria Cancer Society, Dr. Adamu Alhasan Usman, who also decried the huge amount of money being spent on the treatment of the diseases and its patients, called the proper implementation and allocation of the accrued tax on the sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) to further improve healthcare services.
He said: “So 11.2 million Nigerians (battling diabetes) may be an underestimation, and so many patients die as a result of complications of diabetes mellitus. And this is why the National Action On Sugar Reduction is advocating for not just an increase in the sugary packs, but the proper implementation and allocation of the accrued tax to further improve healthcare services, improve access to medicines for diabetes patients, and better the primary health care structures at the local localities for effective screening modalities.”
