Rising cases of diabetes threat to public health —Advocates

Health professionals and advocates in Ghana are raising concerns over the alarming increase in diabetes cases nationwide, warning that the disease poses a serious threat to public health if urgent preventive measures are not taken.

They said it was more alarming that the cases in children were rising steadily as well.

An International Diabetes Federation (IDF) advocate, with the Blue Circle Voices Network, Maabena Webb, stressed the need for more education and awareness to ensure that the situation does not become a crisis.

She described diabetes as a “silent killer” that often develops unnoticed, cautioning that poorly managed diabetes could lead to life-threatening complications, including heart disease, kidney failure, stroke, blindness and limb amputations.

“One of the biggest dangers of diabetes is that it can go undetected for years.

By the time symptoms such as frequent urination, excessive thirst, or unexplained weight loss appear, serious organ damage may already have occurred,” Mrs Webb, who also serves as the Managing Director of Splenda Ghana, said. 

She was speaking during an awareness campaign to mark this year’s World Diabetes Day.

Burden

Sharing some findings in the National Guidelines for the Management of Diabetes, she said in Ghana, the estimated prevalence of reported and recorded cases of diabetes is between 2.6 per cent to nine per cent, with the Ghana Health Service recording an average of 200,000 cases of diabetes reported to health facilities annually.

World Diabetes Day

As part of the commemoration, Splenda Ghana, dedicated to diabetes advocacy and the promotion of healthy living among individuals and families, organised an outreach campaign at the Kaneshie Market in Accra, educating traders and shoppers on healthy living, early detection and management of the disease.

It also donated some of its products to the Eastern Regional Hospital and the SDA Hospital, both in Koforidua.