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Paidamoyo Chipunza Senior Health Reporter
AS Zimbabwe joins the world in commemorating the World Diabetes Day today, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has called on governments to allocate adequate funding for diabetes and encourage citizens to adopt healthy living lifestyles to curb prevalence of non communicable diseases.

In a statement released ahead of this year’s commemorations of diabetes running under the theme: Healthy Living and Diabetes, WHO regional director Dr Matshidiso Moeti, said the burden of diabetes was becoming bigger in the region.

She said adequate funding will enable countries to procure essential medicines and technologies to ensure that early detection, treatment and regular follow up of diabetes is done.

“The need for robust diabetes prevention and control policies to promote healthy diets and physical activity at home, schools, workplaces and other settings has never been greater. But public policies alone are not enough, she said.

Dr Moeti said there was a growing tendency in Africa for people to eat more foods that are refined, rich in sugar, salty, fatty and have more calories but poor in nutrients.

She said the rise in diabetes in Africa was also attributable to people becoming physically less active.

“This transition is contributing to the increasing burdens of not only Type 2 diabetes but other non-communicabe diseases,” she said.

She said globally 90 percent of people with diabetes have type 2, and its frequency is increasing in low and middle-income countries.

In Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Diabetic Association estimates that 10 percent of non communicable diseases were diabetic cases.

However, a majority of diabetes cases go unnoticed as most people do not know that they are diabetic.

Diabetes is when a person’s blood glucose or sugar levels are too low or too high.

Diabetes can lead to high rates of ill health, disability and premature deaths.

It has severe health complications such as blindness, kidney failure, neuropathy, disability and premature death.

It also has serious economic consequences which include loss of productivity and high health care costs.

Sadly, diabetes often takes years to be diagnosed, hence the importance of screening, early detection and prompt treatment upon diagnosis.

According to WHO, the risk of diabetes and its complications could significantly be reduced by maintaining a healthy body weight, engaging in sufficient amounts of physical activity, eating a well-balanced diet, and avoiding tobacco and harmful use of alcohol.