Under the theme “Protect Our Future”, the world marks the World Diabetes Day on November 14th, corresponding, this year, to Wednesday, 29/12/1433H. The World Diabetes Day is meant to enhance the health awareness for each diabetic patient, or every person conducive to get injured with this disease, and provide the best health and awareness services. This comes at a time when there are more than 220 million diabetic patients all over the world, and it is likely that such a number is to increase by more than double by the advent of 2030 unless procedures are taken to prevent that from happening.
Meanwhile, MOH Media Information and Health Awareness Center pointed out that diabetes is chronic disease, and it is caused by the pancreas disability to produce insulin in an enough amount or when the body becomes unable to use this substance effectively. In addition, insulin is a hormone regulating the level of sugar in the blood.
The Center further made clear that diabetes could cause over time harms to the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, and nerves, in addition to increasing the risks of getting injured with cardiac diseases and stroke. Also, diabetic retinopathy is one of the main reasons leading to blindness, which results from long-term accumulation for the harms which the small blood vessels, in the retina, sustain. Thus, having lived with diabetes for 15 years: 2% of the patients got blind, 10% of them develop severe visual impairment; whereas 80% of diabetic deaths take place in the low-medium income countries.
As for prevention from diabetes, the Center affirmed that adopting simple measures could improve lifestyles and prevent, Allah willing, from diabetes or delay its symptoms such as keeping to the health weight within its normal limit, exercising as much as 30 minutes, following a healthy diet containing three to five meals of fruits and vegetables every day and reducing sugar and saturated fats intake. In addition to this, we should avoid smoking, as it increases the risks of getting injured with cardiovascular diseases.
On the other hand, MOH Information Media and Health Awareness Center designated toll-free telephone number 8002494444; in order to answer all the callers' inquiries with regard to diabetes and other diseases, or send their inquires to the MOH's account at Twitter @saudimoh.
The Center went on pointing out that of the most prominent goals of the 2012 World Diabetes Day is to encourage the governments to reinforce and implement prevention and control policies of the diabetes and its complications, support and spread the national initiatives to combat the diabetes and its complications, and increase the awareness using the diabetes injury warning signs; and encourage early diagnosis. It is further to work on limiting the critical factors of the second type diabetes and preventing or delaying the diabetes complications. Hence, the Ministry of Health (MOH) always seeks to raise the world awareness of diabetes and its occurrence rates which are still increasing all over the world, and how to prevent it in most cases.
It is worthwhile to mention that the Kingdom's latest accredited statistics, as far as diabetic patients are concerned, underlined that 28% of diabetic patients are past 30 years age group; whereas the proportion of those injured with diabetes as a whole is 14.1%.