Bitter truth: Pakistan ranks seventh in the world for diabetes

Experts gather for a three-day conference on the condition.

ISLAMABAD: So far, more than 12,000 diabetes patients in Pakistan have developed medical problems in their retinas. Over a 100 of have had to have their feet amputated in complications related to the condition.

On Sunday, prominent physicians gathered at the second international conference on diabetes held at the Ojha campus of the
Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) to discuss how to prevent this from happening.

The three-day conference, which was inaugurated on Saturday, has been organised by DUHS in collaboration with the Diabetic Association of Pakistan. The event, which aims to share academic research, consists of seminars, hands-on training sessions, free papers and poster presentations.

The president of the International Diabetes Federation Sir Michael Hirst said that about six per cent of the world’s adult population suffers from diabetes - which amounts to about 300 million people.

More than seven million people are diagnosed with diabetes each year. It is estimated that by 2025, the number of people in the world with diabetes will rise to 380 million. The majority of them will belong to low- and middle-income countries.

The vice chancellor of DUHS, Prof. Masood Hameed Khan, who is chairing the conference, added that diabetes, being the most widespread metabolic disorder, has been the focus of innumerable research studies across the world.

Diabetes is leading to premature deaths in children. It’s also cutting the lives of adults short by causing complications such as amputations as well as kidney and heart disease. In December 2006, the governments across the world unanimously passed a United Nations resolution on diabetes, recognising that it is a chronic, debilitating and costly condition. The expenses associated with diabetes are challenging health systems in even the wealthiest countries.

In Pakistan, the situation is quite alarming - with a current diabetic population of 7.1 million, it ranks seventh in the world in terms of prevalence. It is estimated that by 2030, the country will have 13.8 million patients and become home to the fourth largest diabetic population in the world.

Malpractice: 80% of diabetics don’t know how to use insulin 

Eighty per cent of the total of nine million diabetics in Pakistan cannot properly administer insulin, said Dr Samad A Shera, president of the Diabetes Association of Pakistan (DAP), on Saturday.

The Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), in collaboration with the DAP, organised a public awareness seminar at Ojha campus. Shera said that a delay in insulin intake can be fatal if more than two years pass and that intake does not adversely affect pregnant women. The most basic advice that experts give includes a change in lifestyle.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2011.