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Beaven Dhliwayo Features Writer

Like in other parts of the globe, today Zimbabwe marks World Diabetes Day with an aim to increase awareness about the effects of the condition and its complications.

Diabetes is a chronic condition, which often causes stark long-term complications, which compromise the quality of life for patients, and strains healthcare systems worldwide.

Studies show that diabetes prevalence is set to grow by 48 percent over the next 25 years, an increase that will place the world’s health budget under huge stress.

The ailment can cause permanent disability and oftentimes death.

Health eating can help delay the development of diabetes.

Diabetes is the term widely known by many, but it means a variety of disorders, which include diabetes mellitus type one and diabetes mellitus type two, diabetes insipidus and gestational diabetes.

All the above are conditions that mainly affect how the pancreas (an organ in the digestive system) secretes insulin or how the body reacts to this hormone.

Depending on the type and severity, diabetes is controlled by dietary measures, weight loss, oral medication or injected or inhaled insulin.

Commonly known short-and long-term complications of diabetes include foot and eye problems as well as vascular diseases.

Globally, an estimated 422 million adults were living with diabetes in 2014, compared to 108 million in 1980.

The global prevalence of diabetes has nearly doubled since 1980, rising from 4,7 percent to 8,5 percent in the adult population.

Although there has been no latest statistics on diabetes in the country, the Zimbabwe Diabetic Association estimate that 1,4 million Zimbabweans have diabetes, attributed to unhealthy snacking and poor lifestyles which has resulted in the country being named one of heavily burdened countries in the region.

Experts say diabetes is caused by junk food, which includes sweets, chocolates, refined products and failure to exercise.

Some of the symptoms are dry mouth and extreme thirst, a constant need to urinate, especially at night, and unexplained and unintentional weight loss.

This year’s World Diabetes Day is running under the theme “Family and Diabetes”, as the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) wants to bring attention to the impact diabetes can have on a family.

The day is raising awareness of the impact that diabetes has on the family and support network of those affected and promoting the role of the family in the management, care and prevention of the condition.

Research conducted by IDF discovered that parents would struggle to spot this serious lifelong condition in their own children.

Some interesting findings are that even though the majority of people surveyed had a family member with diabetes, an alarming four out of five parents would have trouble recognising the warning signs, and one in three wouldn’t spot them at all.

Zimbabwe is one of the 32 countries of the IDF African region with increasing cases of diabetes.

Documented study show that people living with diabetes mellitus in Zimbabwe have little or no knowledge about the disease. Lack of knowledge have a negative effect on the self-care and health-minding characteristics among men and women living with diabetes.

Because of modern-day lifestyle, the prevalence of diabetes is increasing in the communities we live in, hence the need to raise awareness on the condition.

Suffice to say both type one and two diabetes can be managed by a lifestyle change.

This involves health workers working together with patients through awareness campaigns that enable patients to take responsibility for their lives and helping them to feel safer in making their own informed decisions and to improve their knowledge and attitudes towards diabetes.

Effective self-management is the cornerstone of good care for people living with diabetes.

This reflects an increase in associated risk factors such as being overweight or obese. Over the past decade, diabetes prevalence has risen faster in low-and middle-income countries than in high-income countries.

Diabetes is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attack, stroke and lower limb amputation.

Healthy diet, physical activity and avoiding tobacco use can prevent or delay type two diabetes.

In addition, diabetes can be treated and its consequences avoided or delayed with medication, regular screening and treatment for complications.

Zimbabwe should invest more in fighting diabetes through educating people to lead healthy lifestyles.