SIUT observes world diabetes day

KARACHI: Medical experts have underlined the need to redouble the efforts to increase mass awareness in view of ever-increasing menace of Diabetes in the country.

Pakistan has ranked 4th in the world with 19.4 million people afflicted with diabetes. Prominent physicians speaking at an event held at SIUT which marked World Diabetes Day here on Saturday said that in Pakistan 8.8 Million people have Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT) and an estimated 8.5 million people with undiagnosed diabetes. 

Worldwide an estimated 463 Million which is 9.35% adults aged 20-79 years have diabetes and very distressingly still there are over 231.4 Million people which are 50.1% with undetected diabetes. The most common type is diabetes type 2 which comprises 90% of all diabetics at the global level. The number of deaths resulting from diabetes & its complication in 2019 is 4.2 million.

Dr. Fatema Jawad head of the SIUT team of physicians during a Q/A session informed the audience that the risk of diseases like kidney failure, stroke, vision problems, heart ailments, vascular malfunctioning, Gangrene, and Fatty liver are few which are often caused by diabetes. She called for adopting a healthy lifestyle, regular monitoring and awareness education as few measures to prevent and
counter the disease and its complications.

Arrangements were made at SIUT for this day-long activity which included Blood & Urine tests, BMI estimation, Vital signs measurements, Dietitian & Physicians consults and information and education about the disease through presentations and lectures by SIUT faculty to a large number of people who visited SIUT and availed these facilities.