17 Nov 2022

The Minister of Health, Dr Edwin Dikoloti is expected to officiate at this year’s National World Diabetes Day commemoration scheduled for Mahalapye tomorrow.

Responding to a questionnaire, Mahalapye District Health Management Team (DHMT) coordinator, Ms Thandie Kgosiesele, said the day would be commemorated under the theme: Access to Diabetes Care: Education to Protect Tomorrow.

“This theme underpins the larger multi-year theme of 2021-2023, themed: Access to Diabetes Care, and is focused on the need for better access to quality diabetes education; being education to people living with diabetes and their family or caregivers, education about diabetes, healthy living and complications, as well as education of health care providers to capacitate them to better take care of Diabetic people,” Ms Kgosiesele explained.

World Diabetes Day, Ms Kgosiesele said, started in 1991 and had been an annual event ever since.

In Botswana, the day’s commemoration began in 2004, following the launch of the Diabetes Association of Botswana, Ms Kgosiesele said.

She said the day was meant to raise awareness on diabetes as a global public health issue and what needed to be done collectively and individually for better prevention, diagnosis and management of the condition.

Furthermore, she said the day was also aimed at raising awareness about Diabetes Mellitus: risk factors, screening and services available to people living with diabetes, offering screening for diabetes and associated Non-Ccommunicable Diseases (NCDs) to the general public and emphasising the importance of healthy lifestyle and diabetes.

Currently, Ms Kgosiesele said about 24 million people in the African region had diabetes and that the numbers were projected to around 55 million by 2045.

She said Botswana, as a member of the International Diabetes Federation, was not spared from this.

“Statistics show a prevalence of 5.2 per cent, which is 69 100 or 1 in 20 adults, as per the International Diabetes Federation 2021. In Mahalapye DHMT, a registry of diabetic patients, both new and known cases is currently ongoing and we are at 506 diabetic persons. This is a relatively new exercise and not everyone has been captured hence we expect the numbers to keep increasing,” stated Ms Kgosiesele.

Responding to a question on why Mahalapye was chosen as this year’s host of the National World Diabetes Day commemoration, the DHMT coordinator explained that Mahalapye DHMT had in previous years commemorated the day on a smaller scale but this year, the Diabetes Association of Botswana, came in as a partner for a larger scale commemoration.

Apart from public education, she said other measures in place to help fight the diabetes disease, included; screenings and early diagnosis, comprehensive curative care services to delay disease progression and complications, rehabilitative services for those with complications and linkage to other special services, equipping staff through training and coming up with initiatives such as Walk for Live and NCDs centre.

Ms Kgosiesele said activities for the day would begin at 6am with a walk from two different locations to Mahalapye Community Hall where the main event would take place.

A walk, she said would start from Mahalapye District Hospital and another one from Maeto 2 Hotel then gather at the community hall for aerobics before the event begin.

Other activities to be expected on the day include public address by designated guests, entertainment, display of stalls by different stakeholders, public education and screening for diabetes, hypertension, obesity, foot assessments and foot care education in diabetics, oral assessment and oral care in diabetes as well as educative talks on diet.

Ms Kgosiesele said the DHMT held a one day multi-stakeholder staff training to capacitate health care workers on diabetic care and community mobilisation, as a build up to the event.

Stakeholders expected to partake include, Diabetes Association of Botswana, as a co-host and also bringing in different sponsors, various government departments, such as; Education, Central Transport Organisation, Facilities Management, Prisons and Prisons College, as members of the organising committee.

Additionally, Ms Kgosiesele said different DHMT departments would have stalls to showcase how their services relate to diabetes care and also offer health promotion education and screening on dietetics, orthotics, emergency medical service and dental care.

She urged the public to take NCDs seriously and work on adopting a healthy lifestyle that would help prevent and manage diabetes and other NCDs. ENDS