Lack of Physical Exercise and Poor Diet Has Led to Increased Cases of Diabetes
The number of people in the County suffering from diabetes has skyrocketed recently, and medics have attributed it to the lack of physical exercise and poor diet.
According to health CEC Claire Wanyama said the disease can be managed effectively by eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly.
Currently, more than 4000 people in the county suffer from diabetes. Said Mrs. Wanyama.
She observed that World Diabetes Day allows people to share experiences and information about the disease which would enable them to come up with a way forward, saying this year’s theme pushes stakeholders to link all affected people to health care.
She said her department will scale up screening of residents, saying for the last one week, the county has been able to screen over 400 residents.
“It is only through screening that the department will be able to identify those who have the disease, that is the reason we are boosting the screening exercise,” she said.
According to health data, breastfeeding children for six months can hugely reduce cases of diabetes. The disease is genetically modified and can be prevented if we continuously breastfeed our children for six months.
The CEC said she will initiate a policy change in the National Health Insurance Fund, NHIF, on the plight of people living with diabetes, adding that the NHIF scheme should cover the diabetes patients fully.
She also said the county will ensure that all the diabetes medications are distributed to the health center, saying there is a need for the county government to include insulin in the county budgets preparation and when ordering drugs from KEMSA, saying this will ease the burden of the diabetes patients.
On his part, Dr. Silas Wambulwa who is a diabetes specialist said Cherangani sub-County is leading in the county with the highest diabetes prevalence.
Dr. Wambulwa said type 1 diabetes is leading in the causes of kidney diseases, and it accounts for 30% of the cases of those who develop type1 diabetes being children below the ages of 31 years hence developing kidney disease.
Diabetes type 2 is most commonly seen in adults, and patients with type 2 diabetes usually get kidney disease.
His sentiments were echoed by the County Nutritionist Catherine Njogu who urged members of the public to do the periodic screen of diabetes disease.
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