Women

Diabetes has become a significant public health problem in urban Nepal. Studies carried out by the Nepal Diabetes Association in towns and cities throughout the country have revealed a diabetes prevalence of around 15% among people aged 20 years and above, and 19% among people aged 40 years and above. The Association has identified a number of key issues which continue to exacerbate this epidemic in Nepal.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder to affect women of reproductive age. Although it was first described almost 70 years ago, there has been no universal agreement about its definition. Eleni Kousta and Stephen Franks describe the prevalence, symptoms, and cause of PCOS, and look at long-term health implications and the available and possible future treatments for women with the syndrome.

Diabetes increases the risks in pregnancy for both the mother and her infant. However, pre-pregnancy advice where possible, detection of undiagnosed or new (gestational) diabetes in pregnancy, and careful management of diabetes throughout pregnancy, with close liaison between healthcare professionals involved in diabetes, obstetric and neonatal care, can all help to achieve the desired outcome of a healthy mother and baby. The Global Guideline only addresses areas of pregnancy care that are commonly affected by the

While a proportion of women with the metabolic syndrome become pregnant, pregnancy itself creates a milieu that is similar to the syndrome, including the development in some women of insulin insensitivity and increased levels of blood

The disease process that leads to the development of type 2 diabetes may start in the womb at the very beginning of life. Fetal growth and birth weight are predictive of diabetes risk in later years. This suggests that the factors that influence the rate of fetal growth – and therefore birth weight – may also activate the process that leads to type 2 diabetes in adult life. It is well known that smoking during

Assessing the health of people’s bones should be a standard component of diabetes care. People with diabetes are at an increased risk for fractures; this risk increases with the development of diabetes complications. Bone fractures impose a major impact on a person’s quality of life and on healthcare budgets. Inge Van Pottelbergh explains bone loss in people with diabetes and looks at the current treatment options.

We have known for more than half a century that good control of blood sugar (glucose) is important for the normal development of the unborn baby throughout pregnancy. During those years there has been much progress in advising

Shilpa Verma from India is a mother, a wife, a diabetologist and a clinical researcher. But long before she became all these, she was diagnosed with diabetes.

Children need a healthy mother, not one with incapacitating complications, an unstable character due to the highs and lows of blood glucose levels, or who might endanger them by losing control while having a severe hypoglycaemic reaction. Children need a full-time caregiver. A responsible woman educated to take command of her diabetes can fulfil this role just as well as a woman without diabetes; sometimes even better.

Islam instructs believers to take care of their health. Prophet Muhammad said, "There are two graces which many people misevaluate; (they are) health and free time (for doing good)". This is why taking care of the body is the foremost duty of the woman as she takes care of all the dietary and health concerns of herself and her family.