World Diabetes Day marked at Apam

The Managing Director of East Cantonments Pharmacy LTD, Kofi Bediako Amoafo-Hene, has called on the public to desist from stigmatising against diabetic family members by showing them love and concern.

Mr Amoafo-Hene, who joined the world to commemorate World Diabetes Day at Apam in the Central Region last Thursday, stressed on the need to educate family members on diabetes in order for them to adopt healthy lifestyles.

Addressing participants at the gathering on the theme “Your family and diabetes”, he said “We need to continue to educate our family members on diabetes; we need to encourage them to adopt healthy lifestyles”.

“We must support and care for our family members with diabetes and avoid stigmatising against them especially those with amputations by showing them more love and concern,” he added.

 Call on government

The event which sought to increase awareness on the effects of the disease, the complications caused by it and the care people with the condition needed, saw a call on government to develop a national diabetes control programme to enable more nurses’ venture into diabetes education.

Mrs Elizabeth Esi Denyoh, the West African Chairperson of International Diabetes Federation (IDF) who made the call said, most nurses in the country lacked knowledge in educating diabetes despite the growing concern among the nation’s population and expressed the need to have health workers specifically trained in the disease.

“I want to call on government to ensure a roll out of national diabetes programme which would enable more nurses to venture into diabetes education.

“This is because, despite the diabetes growth in the country’s population, most nurses in the country lacked knowledge in educating the public on the disease,” she noted.

 Government’s intervention

The Deputy Minister of Health, Alexander Abban, explained that diabetes was being considered to be given under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) as government look to curb the effect of the disease on poor persons after they are diagnosed with diabetes.

In a speech read on behalf of the District Chief Executive (DCE) of Gomoa West, Bismark Baisie Nkum, the number of people with diabetes was expected to rise to 522 million by 2030 according to IDF study with three out of four people with diabetes living in low income countries such as Ghana.