Medical practitioners at the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital, Dr. Sam, have attributed the rise in diabetes to ‘lifestyle’ as a predisposed factor in middle-income countries such as Ghana.
Speaking in an interview, as the World observed Diabetes Day, Dr. Sam indicated that individuals do little to engage in physical activities, mostly increasing the risk of diabetes.
World Diabetes Day provides an opportunity to raise awareness about diabetes as a crucial global public health issue and emphasises the collective actions needed to improve the prevention, diagnosis, and management of the condition.
This year’s theme, “Breaking Barriers, Bridging Gaps,” underpins the commitment to reducing the risk of diabetes.
Dr. Sam advocated for adopting healthy lifestyles like eating a balanced diet and exercising often, amongst others, to reduce the risk of becoming diabetic.
“It’s very true that the numbers keep on rising, mainly because of our lifestyle. So the lifestyle that we are now leading as middle-income countries.
What is predisposing us to this diabetes? It’s the number one problem. And so when I talk about lifestyle, I mean, our diet, the food we are eating—we are what we eat. So the kind of food, the choices we are making, and then now sedentary lifestyle everywhere.
No exercise. We eat, sit for long hours, and sleep. So all these are increasing our risk, and that’s why we are seeing these high numbers.”
For his part, Dr. Thomas Addy deflated the notion that only elderly people are prone to diabetes and highlighted the symptoms and types of diabetes.
He called for regular checkups for diabetes.
“For that one in particular, for every age group, be it adults or young, there’s always a type of diabetes that you can get. So we have 3 types of diabetes. We have type 1, we have type 2, and we have the other one, which is called gestational diabetes. That one, yes. You get it through pregnancy.
“So gestational diabetes is usually developed when we are in pregnancy, especially in pregnant women. That’s the time you develop it. But as to your question, it doesn’t matter the age you are; whether you are young, whether you are in middle age, or whether you are an old person, you can’t get diabetes. So that’s the notion that maybe I’ll have to get old to get diabetes. I’ll have to get 60, 50.”
To be honest enough, I have people I speak to a lot who, technically, will tell you that, maybe a situation, like, when I grow before I get to this. But get to understand that whatever you accumulate now, you might not even get to the age you are thinking about. You might start getting the whole symptoms and everything. You might start getting the whole symptoms of sometimes some of the symptoms that people usually forget or don’t catch.
It’s when they start peeing a lot, like, they visit the washroom multiple times. They start drinking a lot of water. They eat small. They are hungry. They start losing weight.
Most of the time, they might not catch this, but you might be developing this gradually and gradually. And most of the time, in this part of the world, we do not do regular checks or routine checks,”
