<<Print>>

Parents and guardians have been advised to be conscious of symptoms of diabetes in their children and wards and take steps to medically verify these symptoms.

Dr Nii Boye of the Trust Hospital in Accra, who gave the advice, mentioned symptoms of diabetes exhibited by children and young adults, who were mostly affected by Type 1 diabetes, to include irregular weight loss, bed-wetting and constant complaints of hunger.

When identified early, he said medical treatment as well as supervised care could be given to normalise the situation.

Sensitisation

Dr Boye was speaking to the congregation of the Calvary Baptist Church at Adabraka, Accra, last Sunday, on diabetes as part of the National Diabetes Week and World Diabetes Day.

The programme formed part of the activities to mark this year’s National Diabetes Week and World Diabetes Day, by the Kafui Foundation for Childhood Diabetes.

The programme organised in collaboration with the Diabetes Youth Care was intended to create awareness of the disease. Last year, about 109 children were recorded to be seeking medication for diabetes at various hospitals in the country.

Dr Boye stated that diabetes occurred when there was excess glucose in the blood, which is unavailable to the body for usage.

Treatment

He said currently there are 382 million people suffering from diabetes worldwide out of which 5-10 per cent were patients with Type 1 Diabetes who depended solely on injection of insulin for survival.

He explained that people who lacked insulin might develop complications which could result in death, adding that complications associated with the lack of insulin included blindness, stroke, loss of sensation when hot or cold object was touched, and development of difficult-to-heal ulcers or sores.

He said there was the need for financial support from corporate organisations for dealing with such cases in communities, considering the fact that insulin was a very expensive medication, which most families could not afford.