Durban - KwaZulu-Natal has a million diabetes sufferers – more than any other province in the country, according to an expert who was speaking to the Daily News on the eve of World Health Day on Wednesday.
Jenny Russell, KZN branch manager for Diabetes South Africa, confirmed the high incidence of the disease – dubbed the “silent killer” – in the province.
She also cited Statistics SA figures that the disease was the second biggest killer in the eThekwini Municipality after tuberculosis.
The Indian population had the highest predisposition to diabetes, she said, and noted that the number of Africans with the disease was rising dramatically.
The biggest growth in type 2 diabetes was among those aged 35 to 50, people who were “also breadwinners”, she said.
She called diabetes the “tsunami of the 21st century”, and said it was scary that the disease often went undiagnosed.
Determined to help more people know the risk they are facing so that the disease can be detected early is uMlazi resident, Njabulo Dlamini, who has type 1 diabetes.
The 20-year-old said he first learnt he had diabetes when he fell ill in 2010.
“I was rushed to the hospital,” he said.
While in intensive care he discovered that he was a diabetic.
Dlamini said he was young at the time and did not understand the impact of the diagnosis.
He said his parents also had a hard time understanding it.
“A dietitian had to come in and explain the condition to my parents,” he said.
After the discovery and talking to a dietitian he has become more conscious of his diet.
His family are also now more careful about what they eat.
“You can see they are fit and healthy,” he said.
Dlamini now visits schools to educate people about the disease.
He said he also encouraged elderly people to change their eating habits so that they did not develop type 2 diabetes.
But this was not easy because they were set in their ways.
He said people with type 1 diabetes should also watch their health.
He said developing the disease had not prevented him from living a full life.
In 2013, he auditioned for Idols and received a wooden MIC for his efforts.
“I was checking if I had any talent when I entered Idols,” he quipped.
According to the International Diabetes Federation, in 2011 diabetes killed 385 million people, more than HIV/Aids and cancer combined.
BLOB: A World Health Day Commemoration planned for Shallcross Stadium in Chatsworth on Thursday had to be cancelled because of violent protests in the area.
Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, and his KwaZulu-Natal counterpart, Dr Sibusiso Dhlomo, had been expected to attended.
Joe Maila, Health Department spokesman, said they had decided to convert the World Health Day event into a public awareness drive to educate the community about prevention and management of diabetes.
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* Three-and-a-half million South Africans (about 6% of the population) suffer from diabetes and there are many more who are undiagnosed, according to drugmaker, Sanofi Diabetes.
The highest prevalence of diabetes is among the Indian population in South Africa (11-13%) as this group has a strong genetic predisposition for diabetes. This is followed by 8-10% in the coloured community, 5-8% among blacks and 4% among whites.
“It is estimated that another 5 million South Africans have pre-diabetes, a condition where insulin resistance causes blood glucose levels to be higher than normal, but not high enough yet to be type 2 diabetes,” Sanofi said in a statement.
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* Diabetes occurs when the body cannot produce enough of the blood-glucose-lowering hormone insulin, or is unable to use insulin effectively. The main function of insulin is to enable blood glucose to enter cells where it is used for energy. Therefore, when the effect of insulin is reduced or absent, blood glucose increases abnormally and muscles, other tissues, and in severe cases, the brain, are deprived of this energy source.
Type 1 diabetes has to be treated with insulin
Type 1 diabetes occurs when a person’s immune system damages their insulin-producing cells, so they no longer produce enough insulin for their body. The cause is often not known, so it is difficult to predict who may develop this condition. Although it may occur at any age, type 1 diabetes most commonly begins in childhood or adolescence. People with type 1 diabetes have to be treated with multiple daily injections of insulin, without which they will not survive.
Type 2 diabetes is a common lifestyle disease
About 90 % of people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes, a condition in which the body is resistant to the action of insulin and there is progressive decline in the ability to make insulin. This form of diabetes, previously known as late-onset diabetes, usually manifests later in life and it is commonly associated with being overweight or obese. Initially type 2 diabetes can be managed with healthy eating, increased physical activity and a simple regimen of oral medication. Ultimately most people with type 2 diabetes will require additional medications and eventually the addition of insulin therapy to control their blood glucose. Source: Centre for Diabetes and Endocrinology