Nhau News Online News that is accurate, reliable, trustworthy!!
By Nhau Correspondent
“This is a great initiative and I hope government will continue bringing such services to our communities,” said Colletah Sigwadi, a farmer from Mvuma, who came through to a three-day diabetes screening exercise which was carried out by the Ministry of Health and Child Care in Gweru last week.
“There are a lot of costs that stop us from regularly seeking these services such as transport fares, the cost of getting tested and the cost of drugs when one is confirmed to having diabetes and require medication,” she added.
The exercise, which started on Thursday and ended on Saturday, saw more than 800 people receiving free testing services at DST bus rank with the support from Zimbabwe Diabetes Association and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
November 14 is World Diabetes Day, and like any other commemorative day this year, it had to be commemorated amid threats of a Covid-19 second wave, evidenced by the daily increase of Covid-19 cases in the country.
Whilst medical experts are still debating whether to close the economy again to control the spread of Covid-19 or just let things as they are, a growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) can also not be ignored.
While testing is free at some government institutions, most people shy away from seeking diabetes services due to the out-of-pocket payments patients encounter in trying to access such services.
According to the WHO, by 2014 about 422 million people were living with diabetes globally, four times the number recorded in 1980. In addition, the African Region has experienced a six-fold increase, from four million cases in 1980 to 25 million in 2014, with 60 percent of the 19 million people with diabetes in Africa not knowing they have it.
Health and Child Care Deputy Minister Dr John Mangwiro, who has been a diabetes advocate for many years, links the increase in diabetes cases to sedentary lifestyles, where diets are highly dependent on refined foods with little or no exercise.
“In Africa, diabetes is becoming worse mainly due to over reliance on refined foods and lack of exercise. Therefore, diabetes awareness campaigns remain critical in beating NCDs in Zimbabwe,” said Dr Mangwiro, who is also the International Diabetes Federation Chairperson for the African Region.
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are estimated to account for 33 percent of all deaths in Zimbabwe with 3 percent of those deaths in 2018 alone being linked to diabetes. This was a huge jump from the 1 percent that was recorded in 2014. According to the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) approximately 136 938 patients with diabetes have been registered and attended to at various institutions across the country during the first, second and third quarter of this year.
This year’s theme, Diabetes: Nurses make the difference, focuses on amplifying the role of nurses in the prevention and management of diabetes. Diabetes is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attack, stroke and lower limb amputation.
People with diabetes have also been seen to have bad outcomes when infected by Covid-19. Complications, can be avoided or delayed with medication, regular screening and treatment for complications, activities that require health worker intervention.
A healthy diet, physical activity and avoiding tobacco use can prevent or delay type two diabetes.
Health workers, nurses in particular, have played a huge role in management of diabetic patients and have been in the forefront of Covid-19 response. To honour the tremendous work being done by nurses, WHO set aside the year 2020 as the year of nurses and midwives, despite the challenges they face in executing their duties.
Furthermore, the Covid-19 pandemic also disrupted service provision, which saw many people across the globe failing to access health care services, including NCDs. The global health body notes that at least one in five Covid-19 deaths is linked to diabetes, while people aged 60 years and above are at high risk of complications or deaths.
WHO National Professional Officer for NCDs Dr Edmore Munongo said early screening and diagnosis of diabetes will reduce complications, which usually become a heavy burden on a country’s health system if left unchecked.
“We continue to support work being done by MoHCC in its response to NCDs. If diabetes is not treated or managed early, there are complications such as strokes or kidney failure which is more expensive and a heavy burden on our health system,” said Dr Munongo.
“Managing stroke or having dialysis is more expensive than managing diabetes when people are screened and diagnosed early.”
WHO has also been working with MoHCC to train nurses and other health workers to expand access to diabetes prevention and care services through the WHO Package of NCDs Interventions (WHO PEN) for primary healthcare.
Zimbabwe is one of the 25 countries where the model was adopted, and is working to decentralise services to rural health facilities and improve early diabetes detection and patient care together with other NCDs.
To date, about 86 healthcare workers have already been trained as trainers of other health workers in Zimbabwe under the model. Nhau/Indaba
