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The World Diabetes Day was yesterday commemorated in Accra with the launch of a document to guide the diagnosis, management and prevention of the disease.
The 272-page document is titled "National guidelines for the management of diabetes mellitus".
It provides a structured approach to diabetes prevention, management and care, including a wide range of topics from the causes and types of diabetes, early screening, diagnosis, prevention strategies and best practices in diabetes management and patient education.
It also serves as a roadmap for healthcare professionals as it outlines best practices and evidence-based approaches to the management of diabetes.
The initiative is by the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service (GHS), the Diabetes Endocrine and Metabolic Society of Ghana (DEMSoG), with support from some international partners.
Data from the Ghana Health Service indicate that an average of 200,000 cases of diabetes are recorded in health facilities annually, while one in every 10 adults worldwide has diabetes.
And over 90 per cent of the cases constitute type Two diabetes.
The World Diabetes Day (WDD) was instituted in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organisation in response to growing concerns about the escalating health threat posed by diabetes.
It became part of the UN Day in 2006 and marked every year on November 14, the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, who co-discovered insulin along with Charles Best in 1922.
The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, who launched the initiative, said it was a significant milestone in the country’s journey towards achieving better health outcomes for all citizens and people living in the country.
“Diabetes is a growing global health concern.
The prevalence of this chronic condition has been steadily rising, affecting millions of individuals and families worldwide.
“In Ghana, the situation is no different, with an estimated prevalence of diabetes to be between 2.6 per cent – 9 per cent per annum; that is an average of 200,000 cases of diabetes reporting to health facilities annually in the country,” he said.
Mr Agyeman-Manu further said it was as a result of such a development that the ministry came up with a non-communicable disease policy and implementation strategy in 2022.
The acting Manager of the non-communicable disease control programme, Dr Efua Commeh, mentioned some of the challenges in diabetes management to include difficulty in accessing life-saving insulin, lack of logistics, late reporting, patients having to buy their own glucometers strips, which, she said, many could not afford and limited capacity for children care.
The President of the Diabetes Endocrine and Metabolic Society of Ghana underscored the need for diabetes burden to be addressed head-on due to its attendant socio-economic impact.
She said 10 per cent of health expenditure was spent on adult diabetes, putting pressure on the already limited health resources.
