Maxwell Adeyemi
DIABETES IS a complex, chronic non-communicable disease, a metabolic disorder involving abnormally high blood glucose levels which affects practically all organs of the body with a resultant spectrum of complications. While diabetes affects both men and women, there has been at some point more emphasis on women’s health as it relates to childbearing, such that there is a national screening programme for all women in pregnancy.
Diabetes is the ninth leading cause of death in women globally. It kills over two million women annually and there is an estimated over 20 million women living with diabetes globally.
Globally, one in ten women have diabetes, and one in seven pregnant women are affected by gestational diabetes. The emphasis this year is to promote – for all those at risk or living with diabetes – the importance of affordable and equitable access to diabetes medications, technologies, self-management, education and information they require to have optimal diabetes outcomes and strengthen their capacity to prevent type 2 diabetes.
Women – the future
of our health
Paying attention to women, their diabetes risks and status, as well as effective management of their diabetic condition to improve outcomes, are very vital to the future of the nation.
The emphasis on women this year is a timely initiative because women are crucial to the overall health of the nation's next generation.
In TT, it is estimated that 16-20 per cent of the population is diabetic. Studies have also shown that 20 per cent of our women are at risk of diabetes, with about ten-11 per cent of those who are pregnant having abnormal blood glucose levels. In the childbearing age of 15-45 years, 21 per cent are either diabetic or have impaired glucose tolerance.
Statistically, among the 250,000 females in TT between 18-45 years old, 20,000 pregnancies are estimated to occur annually, which result in about 15,000 babies annually. Of this number, a significant amount will be at risk of being born to mothers who are either diabetic or at risk of diabetes, which of course carries with it risks to mother and child during pregnancy, and also significant risks to babies who will be prone to obesity and diabetes in the future.
If greater numbers of our women continue to become diabetic, then we will be faced with astronomical figures of not only at-risk babies, but with exceptionally high figures of at-risk and diabetic adults in the future.
Vicious cycles of risks
Type 2 diabetes is fuelled by spiralling levels of obesity. Over 60 per cent the TT population is either obese or overweight, the third-ranked in the world. The obesity rate among our schoolchildren is over 33 per cent, a figure that has tripled from the 11 per cent obesity rate of ten years ago.
It follows then that as our children continue to be obese they grow into obese adults. When obese women get pregnant there is significant risk of becoming diabetic or having gestational diabetes.
Apart from the associated risks with these conditions is that
