Diabetes in Society

The prevalence of diabetes in Latin America will double within the next couple of decades. Type 2 diabetes is already among the first 10 causes of mortality in the Latin American adult population due to chronic complications related to premature and accelerated atherosclerosis. It is also estimated that around one third of these women and half of these men remain undiagnosed for years. Latin America must, therefore, be prepared for an epidemic with serious consequences.

“My name is Olivia Bayne. I am from the island of Barbados located in the West Indies. I am like the average teenager but with one vital difference. I have had Type 1 diabetes since I was eight years old…”

Failure to provide accessible information for blind and partially sighted people is both unacceptable and unnecessary. It is unacceptable in that it is a denial of a fundamental right to information. It is unnecessary in that it makes no sense on business grounds. Providing information in alternative formats need not be expensive or difficult; large print, audio tape and computer files can be easily provided without specialist equipment.

Hazel Davies and Roy Cross have never met, but they have a lot in common: they are both Australian centenarians, masters of long-term diabetes control. This story is a tribute to them and their astonishing achievement in reaching a ripe age with diabetes—and without complications.

When firefighter Tim Hoy developed Type 1 diabetes he was immediately placed on 'light duties' pending a medical dismissal. Tim successfully appealed against the decision, but the assumption that the need for self-treatment with insulin, with its associated risk of hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar levels), poses a safety risk in the workplace is a recurrent problem. The Edinburgh-based study, funded by Diabetes UK, gathered data from over 243 people with diabetes.

The findings of the recently-conducted DAWN study (Diabetes Attitudes, Wishes and Needs) tell us that people with diabetes who are cut off from a community of support not only manage their condition ineffectively, but also feel worse within themselves. Networks of supportive family, colleagues or friends appear to be at least as important as medication in relation to the ability of a person with diabetes to manage their condition.

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.

Diabetes poses a serious threat to developing countries like Bangladesh. Despite advances in diabetes treatment, management and self-care, women with diabetes in rural Bangladesh are rarely able to enjoy the fruits of this progress.