According to him, diabetes was among the four top chronic diseases and was fast gaining grounds in the Region, especially among young people.

[contextly_sidebar id=”u8hel8CNTEfDYROzTsMGg39M895zO8QZ”]Mr Braimah said this during a health talk which brought together health professionals, bankers, security personnel and students from the Bolgatanga Nurses and Midwifery Training Colleges.

The participants had earlier danced to brass band music through the principal streets of Bolgatanga carrying placards, some of which read “diabetes is a killer”, “check for your status”, “more exercise and good diet”; as part of activities to mark this year’s World Diabetes Day celebration.

The month-long celebration which is being held under the theme; “Preventing and managing diabetes, the role of diet and lifestyle,” comes with activities such as radio discussions on “effective diabetes management,” health talk in churches, mosques, corporate and educational institutions as well as screening for diabetes.

Mr Braimah said diet played important role in controlling diabetes adding “you cannot manage your diabetes well without a good diet. If we watch our eating habits well; quit smoking, reduce or quit alcohol intake, we can prevent Type Two diabetes”, he said.

He said even though there were signs and symptoms of diabetes “you cannot be sure whether you have Type 1 or 2 diabetes until you check. It is a very easy and affordable test, let’s encourage everyone to check,” he said.

Dr Bertha Gibil, a Medical Officer at the Hospital, said there were three types of diabetes including, Type 1, 2 and gestational diabetes.

She said Type 1 diabetes was genetic and usually detected during childhood as the pancreas most likely does not produce insulin and in that case nothing could be done about it.

Dr Gibil said the emphasis was on the Type 2 form of diabetes which is preventable and not insulin dependent, as insulin was produced but the body does not recognize it, or it was too little to be recognized.

She said with the gestational and Type 1 forms of diabetes, nothing could be done about them, “the only thing about the gestational one is that if you get it in pregnancy, the likelihood that you will get the Type 2 along the line is very high.”

She said diabetic patients usually lose weight, frequently get thirsty, drink more water and urinate very frequently with ants often patronizing their urine.

She impressed on the general public to exercise regularly avoid eating late at night, eat three or four hours before going to bed.

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Source: GNA

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Currently, over 3 million Ghanaians are living with diabetes, with Ghana ranked 6th in Africa among countries with high prevalence.

Available statistics indicate that, a person dies from diabetes every 15 seconds and a limb is lost every 30 seconds.

This revelation according to Dr. Philip A. Bannor, the acting Eastern Regional Director of the National Health Insurance Authority, is worrying.

In an interview with Citi News at the World Diabetes Day celebration held at Kibi in the East Akim Municipality of the Eastern Region, Dr. Philip Bannor indicated that,  the National Health Insurance Authority is committed to ensuring that diabetic patients receive prompt, immediate and quality care.

“20 percent of the money we pay to health facilities goes to diabetes and other diabetes-related care. I must emphasize that we are very committed to helping diabetic patients, and we will ensure that they are well catered for at all health centres they visit.”

“It is not so much about the money we pay, but us an Authority, we are also much concerned about the rate Ghanaians are being diagnosed with diabetes, so how do we all help to reduce this alarming trend and keep diabetes away.”

Dr. Bannor thus advised the general public to practice a healthy lifestyle to reduce the risk of acquiring diabetes.

“I will use this opportunity to advice the general public on keeping a healthy lifestyle, all these problems and challenges confronting us is down to our lifestyle, we are not particular about what we eat, when to eat and how to eat.”

Dr. Bannor noted that, “Now people have cultivated the habit of eating with soft drinks and the kind of minerals we have on our markets contains as much as 10 to 20 spoon full of sugar which is very harmful to us.”

“We all need to emphasize on educating the people on keeping a healthy lifestyle, create a general awareness that the information shared here today will go down to a lot of people to help them be responsible, exercise daily and maintain a healthy lifestyle by eating fresh fruits and vegetables and not the processed foods.”

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By: Neil Nii Amatey Kanarku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Diabetes UK surveyed 8,500 people about diabetes and how it affected their daily life.

Three in five said their condition made them feel down.

Of those in employment, 16% felt discriminated against at work – and 7% had not even told their employer about their diabetes.

Clare (not her real name), 26, says she had to quit her job as a management consultant as a direct result of her diabetes.

She was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 13.

Despite being one of 4.5 million people affected by the condition in the UK, she says the “lack of understanding” she encountered in the workplace left her feeling “frustrated, anxious and stressed”.

“I was constantly undermined and told that my diabetes wasn’t that serious,” says Clare.

“This included being told off for having medical appointments during the day, and being made to feel bad for talking about my diabetes.

“I don’t want to be treated differently, but sometimes I need to be treated differently,” she tells BBC News.

“You’re young and in your 20s and people on the Tube look at you and ask, ‘Why do you need a seat?’

“No-one knows I have an insulin pump attached to my bra, my blood sugars are being monitored and I am constantly thinking about food.”

She says her employers “never sat down and talked to me about it”.

In an appraisal, she was told she needed “to manage her health anxiety”.

“Eventually, I decided that enough was enough, and I quit my job so I could spend some time taking care of myself,” she says.

She says diabetes “is not a dirty secret – it’s part of my life”.

“There needs to be more talking in the workplace – and more flexibility.”

Life-changing

The number of people diagnosed with diabetes – type 1 and type 2 – is on the rise.

According to Diabetes UK, about 700 people are diagnosed every day.

And it’s a life-changing diagnosis.

Those affected often have to check their blood sugars up to 10 times a day and plan their meal breaks – and what they will be eating – factoring in any exercise they may be doing.

Trips to the toilet can break up a night’s sleep.

And then there can be hypos – when blood sugars drop dangerously low.

Diabetes

Diabetes is a condition that causes a person’s blood sugar to become too high.

• Type 1 can develop at any age, but often begins in childhood. It is not related to diet or lifestyle
• Type 2 is far more common than type 1, but is still rare in childhood. It is usually seen in adults and is often associated with obesity
• It is important to keep blood sugar under control to prevent health complications
• Symptoms of type 2 diabetes include – feeling very thirsty, passing urine more often than usual, particularly at night and feeling very tired

The latest research – published to mark World Diabetes Day – cites six areas where Diabetes UK believes treatment could be improved, including:

• better access to specialist healthcare professionals
• broader emotional support following a diagnosis

“Effective diabetes care requires that a person’s emotional needs are taken into account alongside their physical care needs,” said Chris Askew, chief executive of Diabetes UK.

“We want to see a system where specialist support – from people who understand diabetes – is made available to those who need it.”

Healthcare professionals can provide help and support.

–

Source: BBC

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Dr. Jarvis Abilla, a Medical Superintendent at the Ga South Municipal Hospital attributed the high rate to sedentary lifestyle of the traders at the market as well as their failure to go for regular medical checkup.

This came to light during a free health screening organized by the Philipa Baafi Foundation for the of people who sell at the Dome market.

Hundreds of traders, shoppers and passersby’s trooped to the Dome Market located in Ga East Municipality of the Greater Accra Region, for the “How Well Are You” health screening campaign by the popular musician and physio therapist, Philipa Baafi.

Most of the traders stopped selling to undergo the screening process.

Apart from the health screening, Philipa Baafi, also performed some of her hit songs and also conducted physiotherapy treatment for some of the patients.

Participants were also advised on measures to live healthy lifestyles.

The Member of Parliament for the Dome-Kwabenya constituency, Sarah Adwoa Safo who also attended the screening exercise urged the participants to take issues about their health seriously.

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Source: Philipa Baafi Foundation

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The fusion of biology and technology was used to control blood sugar levels in mice with diabetes.

The idea, described in Science Translational Medicine, could be applied to a wide range of diseases and drug treatments.

And the Chinese researchers say the approach could pave the way for a “new era” in medicine.

The first step was to turn normal cells into living factories.

They were genetically engineered to manufacture drugs that control blood sugar levels such as insulin – but only in response to light.

The technology is called optogenetics and these cells would kick into gear when exposed to specific wavelengths of red light.

Then comes the tech – a set of wirelessly powered LEDs and a smartphone app to control them.

Researchers at East China Normal University in Shanghai implanted the system into mice and were able to control diabetes with the tap of a touchscreen.

Image copyrightJ SHAO

The team said the findings “could pave the way for a new era of personalised, digitalised and globalised precision medicine”.

The scientists needed to take tiny drops of blood to know how high the blood sugar levels were so they could calculate how much drug to release inside the animal.

Their ultimate goal is a fully automated system that both detects sugar levels and then releases the right amount of therapeutic chemicals.

This idea is clearly at an early stage, but it is not limited to diabetes. Cells could be engineered to manufacture a wide range of drugs.

Prof Mark Gomelsky, a molecular biologist from the University of Wyoming, said the study was an “exciting accomplishment”.

He added: “How soon should we expect to see people on the street wearing fashionable LED wristbands that irradiate implanted cells engineered to produce genetically encoded drugs under the control of a smartphone?

“Not just yet, but the work provides us with an exciting glimpse into the future of smart cell-based therapeutics.”

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Source: BBC

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But rather than a gym-soaked t-shirt, it needs just one millionth of a litre of sweat to do the testing.

The team – in South Korea – showed the sensor was accurate and think it could eventually help patients with diabetes.

And in extra tests on mice, the sensor was hooked up to a patch of tiny needles to automatically inject diabetes medication.

The team at the Seoul National University were trying to overcome the need for “painful blood collection” needed in diabetes patients.

• Type 1 diabetes is caused by the immune system attacking the part of the body that controls blood sugar levels
• Type 2 diabetes is often caused by lifestyle damaging the body’s ability to control blood sugar levels
• Patients with both conditions need to medically control their blood sugar levels to prevent damage to the body and even death

This is how patients with diabetes would normally keep track of blood sugar levels:

The sensor is flexible so it can move with the skin it is stuck onto.

However, the scientists needed to overcome a series of challenges to make it work.

There is less sugar in sweat than blood so it is harder to find, and other chemicals in sweat such as lactic acid can disrupt the results.

So the patch has three sensors keeping track of sugar levels, four that test the acidity of the sweat and a humidity sensor to analyse the amount of sweat.

It is all encased in a porous layer that allows the sweat to soak through and bathe the electronics.

All this information is passed onto a portable computer which does the analysis to work out the sugar levels.

Tests before and after people sat down for a meal, published in the journal Science Advances, showed the results from the sweat patch “agree well” with those from traditional kit.

However, for the next stage the researchers turned to mice with diabetes.

They used the blood sugar monitor to control an array of microneedles to give the mice doses of the diabetes drug metformin.

The researchers conclude: “The current system provides important new advances toward the painless and stress-free” care for diabetes.

However, there is a leap between proving something can sense sugar levels in a lab and turning that into something that is so reliable people can put their lives in its hands.

So the researchers next want to test how the patches work in the long-term.

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Source: BBC

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