The Diabetes Control Media Advocacy Initiative (DICOMA) says a significant number of Nigerians with diabetes can no longer control their condition due to high cost of drugs and monitoring devices.
DICOMA raised the concern against the backdrop of the 2021 World Diabetes Day (WDD), which is marked every 14 November.
Diabetes, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), is a chronic, metabolic disease characterised by elevated levels of blood glucose or blood sugar, which leads over time to serious damage to the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys and nerves.
Data from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) shows that over 463 million people are battling the disease across the world, with an estimated 24 million people with the disease in Africa.
WHO, at a recent virtual press conference, said Africa is the region with the highest number of people who do not know their diagnosis, as an estimated 70 percent of people with diabetes do not know they have the disease.
About three percent of Nigeria’fs adult population are reported to have diabetes.
According to the Chairperson of DICOMA, Dr Afoke Isiavwe, Nigeria’s rising inflation has greatly impacted the cost of treating diabetes in the country.
‘The forthcoming World Diabetes Day, no doubt, offers a great opportunity to alert the government and public that the scourge of diabetes is attaining a dangerous dimension in the country as many people can no longer afford their medications and routines to effectively control their condition’, Isiavwe said in a statement.
‘Children living with diabetes, most of whom must be on regular insulin injection, are also badly affected by the situation as many parents either reduce doses or stop administering injections as the cost of insulin, a vital component of diabetes management, has risen by over 40 percent in the last six months. A vial of insulin costs between N6,000 and N12,000 in different parts of the country’.
The non-governmental organisation (NGO) also noted that one in every two people with diabetes in Nigeria is undiagnosed.
The NGO called on the health authorities in the country to make conscious efforts in addressing the plight of people with the disease.
Photo source: Trinity Care Foundation
