Let’s assault diabetes | Letters to Editor

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Because of the risks posed by the novel coronavirus that causes the Covid-19 disease, taking care of yourself is more important than ever.

In fact, people with diabetes are among the group at higher risk of complications from Covid-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) note. The good news is that proper blood sugar management can help reduce these risks. Trinidad and Tobago Diabetes Association President Andrew Dhanoo said he was grateful that the Department of Health gave them the opportunity to vaccinate some of their members.

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh warned a few years ago that the growing impact of non-communicable diseases on the economy and society will increase as the population ages. Diabetes is an example of one of these diseases. It is a serious disease that is affecting more and more adults. There are currently over 200,000 people living with diabetes and another ten percent are in a pre-diabetic stage.

Even more frightening is the fact that it affects T & T’s teenagers and children. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness and kidney failure in adults. It causes nerve damage and, in conjunction with diabetes-related circulatory disorders, unfortunately so often leads to the loss of a leg or foot. Diabetes significantly increases your risk of developing heart disease and dying from Covid-19.

The good news is that diabetes can be nipped in the bud. It is time to start a campaign that focuses our resources on defeating and significantly reducing diabetes in this country. We also need to learn to make better food choices and control our cravings as some people dig their graves with their teeth. About nine out of ten (cases could be avoided simply by foregoing weight control and exercising.

Diabetes is a public health crisis. It may have lacked the immediate attention that diseases like tuberculosis and HIV have drawn, but it’s a bigger killer globally than both diseases combined, especially now with the presence of Covid-19. Without aggressive and urgent action, the number of diabetes cases could rise astronomically in the next 25 years. The human cost is enormous and the economic burden threatens to destroy health systems in this country and around the world.

If we are to make serious change, we need to focus our collective resources, efforts, and imagination more on the social and cultural determinants that put us at high risk in the first place. It’s time to launch an attack on diabetes in Trinidad and Tobago before it gets worse and prepare for future pandemics.

Simon Wright

by email