Experts at a recent workshop in Abuja arrived at a consensus that diabetes is still prevalent in Nigeria, among other life-threatening diseases. NAJIB SANI reports
On Tuesday, 14th November 2017, the world commemorated this year’s World Diabetes Day. It is an annual campaign spearheaded by the International Diabetes Federation [IDF], in conjunction with the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Stakeholders’ concern
Relevant health organizations and stake holders do organize series of activities to mark the day in their various countries. In Nigeria, the World Diabetes DAY 2017 was organized by the Diabetes Association of Nigeria (DAN), in collaboration with the Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation (OOF), with a one day national workshop to members of the association drawn from the 36 states of the federation held in Abuja on 13th November 2017, where experts presented lectures on diabetes.
Other activities carried out were road walk and free diabetes screening for the people in the nation’s capital on November 14th.
National president of the association Dr Mohammed Alkali, who is also the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), Bauchi, explained that 14th November every year was earmarked as the world diabetes day in response to the growing concern about the escalating health threat posed by the disease across the globe and the celebration commenced globally since 1991.
Vulnerable womenfolk
According to him, the theme of this year’s commemoration was ‘Women and Diabetes, our right to a healthy future’. This year’s theme targeted the womenfolk considering the fact that they are becoming more vulnerable to the disease which does not spare anybody irrespective of age, gender or race.
In his address during the national diabetes workshop, Dr. Alkali disclosed that there are: about 415 million people living with diabetes globally which is projected to reach 642 million by 2040. He said more than 14 million people in the sub-saharan Africa had diabetes in 2015 and we are projected to double by 2040.
The DAN president who stated that there are many people who live with the ailment without being diagnosed said the world diabetes day serves as the primary global awareness campaign of the disease calling on government and all stakeholders to give priority attention to controlling it.
Guest speaker
Another expert, Professor Bakeri Adamu Girei, of the Department of Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, who served as guest speaker at the event defined diabetic as ‘a person who has high blood glucose either because they are not producing enough insulin, or because the body does not respond properly to insulin’.
He noted that diabetes is categorized into four types 1, 2, 3 and 4 which affects children, adults, pregnant women and the one that is caused by another diseases. Girei who uncovered that the disease is incurable, pointed out that there is no better treatment for it than frequent taking of medication according to prescription and eating the right foods.
“Poorly managed diabetes leads to serious complications and early death. However, with good self-management and health professional support, people with diabetes can live a long, healthy life”. He asserted.
Herbal remedies
He decried the use of herbal remedies by some diabetics claiming that many of such medicines have not undergone careful scientific assessment.
On the disease’s prevalence, the professor noted that available statistics show that no fewer than five million people in the world die of diabetes annually which indicates that it kills faster than HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis and other deadly infections.
Buttressing his points further, the medical practitioner said the report released by the International Diabetes Federation in 2015 showed that 5.0 million people died of diabetes in the world that year which means that 10 patients died every minute from the disease. While according to the World Health Organization [WHO] 2013 global observatory data he presented, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria killed 1.5 million, 1.5 million and 0.6 million people across the globe respectively which implies that diabetes is more deadly than those diseases.
Undiagnosed
He added that one in two adults with diabetes is undiagnosed lamenting that despite the disease’s increasing prevalence, it has not yet drawn the desired attention of the government and other stake holders in Nigeria.
“Number of people with diabetes increased from 150 million in 2001 to 382 million in 2013, 415 million in 2015 and is expected to exceed to 642 million by the year 2040. There has been progressive increase in the incidence and prevalence of type 2 diabetes worldwide, more pronounced in underdeveloped and developing countries”. He asserted.
Also speaking, a consultant physician and endocrinologist at the Aminu Kano Teachinh Hospital, Kano, Professor Andrew E. Uloko, who presented a paper titled ‘Strategies for the prevention of diabetes revealed that at least 8.8 percent of world’s population live with diabetes with Africa having the highest number of undiagnosed diabetics. This, he said is another challenge for people in the continent to be screened for the disease.
According to report, North America had 44.3 million diabetes as at 2015, South and central America, 29.6 million, Europe, 59.8 million, middle east and North Asia, 78.3 million and western pacific, 153.2 million respectively which the figures were estimated to double by 2040 if the disease is not properly controlled.
Manage diabetes
The Physician enumerated some of the ways to manage diabetes to include; maintaining ‘normoglycaemia’, preventing ‘hypoglycaemia’, avoiding acute or chronic complications of diabetes as well as life style modification with or without some form of pharmacological (drug) intervention.
He warned that poor control of the disease can lead to blindness, foot ulcer and amputation, kidney complications, stroke, heart attacks, poor pregnancy outcomes among other problems.
Other speakers who delivered keynote addresses at the occasion were Professor Sunny Chinenye, of the University of Port Harcourt, Wife of Niger state Governor, Dr Amina Sani Bello, who is also a Gynecologist, Emir of Azara, representatives of the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewale and emir of Suleja, among others.
In his submission, Professor Bakari Adamu Girei, lamented that while there is organized system of care in most tertiary health institutions in Nigeria, the converse is the case in most secondary and primary health institutions, metabolic control is ‘suboptimal’ and optimal care is hampered by lack of accessibility of essential medicines and equipment.
Witchcraft
“The state of diabetes care in Nigeria is worrisome that management of complications such as renal replacement therapy, laser coagulation etc, are not accessible to the majority of patients’’.
While the Niger state governor’s wife, Dr Amina Sani Bello, decried that there are many people in the nation especially those in rural areas who have a belief that diabetes is caused by witchcraft and for that, they do not go to hospital for treatment. Hence, she advised DAN to keep on educating the public on the disease through workshops, seminars etc on regular basis in order to correct their ‘erroneous notion’.
Generally, all the speakers at the national diabetes workshop observed that the challenges of managing diabetes in Nigeria were; poverty, ignorance, poor health seeking behavior, late presentation, traditional medicine among others.
National Health Insurance Scheme
They recommended the inclusion of diabetes into the National Health Insurance Scheme [NHIS], provision of drugs free of charge to the patients just like in the case of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis etc, training and retraining of health man power at primary and secondary health centres to detect and manage the disease early to curtail complications and the insulin drugs should be made accessible to all by whatever means so as to save the lives of the patients.
Professor Adewale represented by the director of public health of the Federal Ministry of Health said the ministry has also recognized the need to scale up efforts to strengthen the control of diabetes and other non-communicable diseases thereby reducing the burden of these diseases on the health system as well as on the economy.
According to him, the ‘Stop Diabetes Initiative Nigeria’ was launched on World Diabetes Day on 14th November 2013 to encourage active involvement of stake holders in the implementation of the activities for the prevention, control and management of diabetes in Nigeria.
“I must inform you that the government is committed to providing leadership for the prevention and control of diabetes and other non-communicable diseases through the federal ministry of health by strategically eliminating the risk factors, improving the management of these diseases as well as preventing their complication”.
7 Ways to coax kids into taking medicine
When it comes to coaxing your child to take their required medication, it can be a bitter pill to swallow. They may put up a huge struggle, making the process a lot more difficult than it needs to be.
However, with the right approach, you can make administering eyedrops or getting some drugs down their throats easier for everyone, while ensuring your child is getting the medicine they need to recover properly. Here are seven tips to help the medicine go down:
1. Come at it positively
EveryDayHealth.com notes that kids can read you like a book – so if you approach them with a medicine bottle and a sombre look on your face, it might put them into resistance mode. When it comes to older kids, “reason and encouragement” are key, notes the source. Explain to them why they need the medicine – give them the benefits.
The challenge can be greater for younger kids, who will “take cues from a parent’s emotions,” it adds. In short, the more frustration you show, the more resistance you’ll encounter.
2. Appeal to their tastes
Let’s face it, some medicines taste like… well, yeah. So if you have to plug your nose to get medicine down, imagine how a kid will react to bitter pills or liquids. Parents.com suggests you “disguise the taste” by using added flavours (available from a pharmacist) such as chocolate or root beer.
It doesn’t even have to be prescription medications – over-the-counter drugs can be flavoured by your pharmacist as well, adds the source. For example, you can change the cherry taste of a cough medicine to banana flavour if your child prefers, explains the source.
3. Bypass their tastebuds
Instead of changing the flavor to their liking, you can actually just skip their tastebuds altogether, suggests EveryDayHealth. You can do this by using a syringe to suck up the medicine, and then placing it at the back or side of the tongue where the tastebuds won’t absorb it, notes the source.
The site warns that you should ensure your child is in an upright position when administering medicine in this fashion, to avoid gagging or choking. It adds that lightly blowing on their face after you’ve dropped in the medicine will coax them to swallow it before they have a chance to spit it out.
4. Let them have some control
Your responsible adult brain is screaming at you to make sure your child gets their medicine, which makes you want to take control of the situation and administer it despite their resistance. However, BabyCenter.com suggests trying the opposite approach for a change.
Suggestions from parents on the site include letting your child give you a “pretend dose” in a syringe (perhaps yours could be filled with water or juice). After that, you can give them their (real) dose. Another sources suggest letting your kids choose the flavour, or doing some fun role-play that lets them give their stuffed animals some medicine first.
5. Hide it in their food
This may be one of the older tricks in the book, but it’s still an effective one. If your child is taking medicine in pill or capsule form, “in most cases” it’s safe to crush the pill/open the capsule and add the contents to their meal.
However, EveryDayHealth.com said some time-released medications could be altered if you crush or open them (consult your doctor or pharmacist for advice). You’ll also have to make sure your child eats the entire meal to get the full medication dose, so make sure it’s one of their favourites.
6. Use bribery
Okay, so this is maybe not your proudest moments as parents, but sometimes if you’re tired or pressed for time and the little one still needs to take their medicine, you can try a little bartering.
Tell them that they’ll get a cookie or another small treat if they get their medicine down. It doesn’t have to be an edible treat, adds WhatToExpect.com – you can also give them a little toy or trinket or even a sticker that will probably go a long way. Just be careful how often you use this tactic – you don’t want your kid expecting a reward for everything they do.
7. Wait until they’re asleep
This one applies to eye drops in particular, which can be a particular challenge because you can’t just make them taste like candy. Today’s Parent suggests waiting until they’ve fallen into a slumber to do the dirty work (after you’ve failed at the other methods during the waking hours).
-activebeat.com
