The Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, says statistics has shown that over 1.6 million Nigerians who are living under the scourge of diabetes have constituted a national prevalence of 1.9 per cent who spend up to N53, 000 annually for their treatment, and this mainly is an out-of-pocket expenditure.
The medical body in Nigeria made this disclosure in a statement signed by its President and Secretary General, Dr. Kayode Obembe and Dr. Adewumi Alayaki respectively, in commemoration of the 2016 World Health Day with the theme; ‘Halt the rise, beat diabetes’.
The statement added that over 40,000 Nigerians also died from the condition in 2015, not forgetting about one million country men and women who have the disease but are yet to be diagnosed and treated, and another estimated 3.85 million people with impaired glucose tolerance, a pre-diabetic condition.
NMA lamented that despite warnings by epidemiologists of the ‘epidemic’ of non-communicable diseases of which diabetes and obesity are front runners, and the flag-off of a nation-wide campaign for healthy living and periodic medical check-ups in 2013 by the Association, not much has been done to chart a national response to halt the rise of diabetes.
Diabetes is not just a medical issue but one with a huge multi-sectoral and socioeconomic dimension and severe burden on the health system and national economy, through direct medical expenditures and loss of man hours and wages.
