In commemoration of the 2023 World Diabetes Day (WDD), the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria, has screened no fewer than 300 people in Kaduna for diabetes, while advising them on its prevention and management.
The WDD is a day set aside by UN to draw public attention to the need for action to fight the menace of diabetes.
It is a day also designed celebrated to raise awareness about the disease as a global public health issue and what needed to be done collectively and individually to manage of the condition or prevent it.
The 2023 commemoration has as its theme, “Access to diabetes care”.
Speaking to newsmen on the sidelines of the diabetes screening on Tuesday in Kaduna, the association’s president, Kaduna ministry of health chapter, Mr. Jessey David, described diabetes as a deadly ailment.
He, therefore, added that it has grievous impact on the daily lives of patients, which called for awareness creation to advise those who were negative or positive on regular check-ups.
David also explained that diabetes, which is a manageable disease, however does not have cure.
According to him, a lot of people are not aware of the disease, where many of them might have signs depicting it, but negligent or ignorant about it.
Speaking further, the association’s president also stated that diabetes could be traced to one’s family history.
David said, “Diabetes is also genetical in some families, for those which the disease did not manifest, we also advise them on healthy practices especially type of food intake because it can enhance the disease.”
He, therefore, advised the public to go for regular check-ups, adding that diabetes screening is not expensive and could be accessed easily at any health care outfit or medical laboratory.
Speaking to some of the beneficiaries, Mr. Zakari Mohammed, restated the importance of medical check-ups in general.
He said that diabetes test was also critical to preventing sudden breakdown which sometimes lead to sudden death.
Mohammed thanked the association for the gesture, while calling on the government to make diabetes test free at all its facilities in the state.
Also, a resident of Zaria,Aminu Abdullahi expressed satisfaction over his negative status of the disease, adding, “I came to Kaduna from Zaria everyday for work, it is not easy and I don’t joke with my medical checkup.
“Many of us work almost everyday and usually don’t have the time to go to hospital unless in an urgent or pressing situation, such excursuses avail us the opportunity to do check-up at our comfort.”
The WDD, which was marked in collaboration with the state ministry of health, had the theme: ‘Empowering global health’.
