Experts advised people at risk of getting diabetes to get themselves screened for diabetes once or twice a year. AP/File
KARACHI: People living with poor diabetes control are more prone to various types of infectious diseases, including Covid-19 as well as lethal infections like mucormycosis, or ‘black fungus’, as the health condition reduces a person’s ability to fight bacteria, viruses and fungus, experts associated with pandemic control measures, care and treatment in Pakistan warned on Monday.
They said in Pakistan several million people were undiagnosed diabetics who were unaware of their health condition, and they could contract infectious diseases more easily than healthier persons. They advised people at risk of getting diabetes to get themselves screened for diabetes once or twice a year.
From baggy trousers to a love of biryani: why diabetes is a growing problem in Pakistan
The South Asian country has one of the highest rates of the disease in the world - and it s affecting younger and slimmer people
9 April 2021 • 7:00am
Increased consumption of sugary drinks is fuelling the rise in diabetes, say doctors
Credit: Hoang Dinh Nam/AFP
When Dr Basit Shoukat began treating people for diabetes in the Pakistani port of Karachi 15 years ago, he reckons around one in 10 people had the condition.
In the intervening years, that figure has not only jumped as high as one in four, but it is climbing sharply, and he is worried.
Over 10 million living with diabetes undiagnosed in Pakistan, warn experts
Karachi
March 11, 2021
There are around 38 to 40 million people living with diabetes in Pakistan, but more than 10 million of them are undiagnosed diabetics, experts said on Wednesday and urged that authorities should pay some more attention to non-communicable diseases, especially diabetes, in addition to dealing with infectious, communicable diseases.
“Pakistan is facing an epidemic of Type 2 diabetes, where, according to International Diabetes Federation (IDF), over 10 million people with diabetes don’t even know that they are suffering from the lifestyle disease. This is an alarming situation and needs immediate government attention,” said Dr Ibrar Ahmed, an endocrinologist and president-elect of the Pakistan Endocrine Society (PES), while talking to news on Wednesday.
Speakers stress adopting preventive measures, raising awareness about diabetes
KARACHI:
Health experts highlighted on Wednesday poor eating habits, particularly the excessive consumption of rice in the form of Biryani and carbonated drinks on almost daily basis, as one of the leading causes of diabetes in Pakistan.
Speaking at the launching ceremony of Discovering Diabetes - a joint venture by the Pakistan Endocrine Society and pharmaceutical company Pharmevo established to set up a helpline for diabetes consultation and share knowledge about the disease - endocrinologist Tasnim Ahsan said Pakistan was facing a diabetes epidemic . Here, millions of adults are now living with diabetes, she raised alarm, adding that type II diabetes, which was an obesity-driven disease, was a global problem now.
KARACHI: Health experts and medical scientists on Wednesday warned that over a quarter of Pakistani population is suffering from lifestyle disease, mainly diabetes, and if poor eating habits, particularly excessive use of rice and growing consumption of carbonated drinks, continue with the same pace the number could multiply over the next five to 10 years.
The experts wondered over the growing and “proud trend” of biryani that they believed could badly harm health if consumed excessively. Poor eating habits were one of the leading causes of diabetes in Pakistan, they believed.
“There is an immediate need for reinvention of Pakistani cuisine,” said Prof Tasnim Ahsan, a renowned internal medicine specialist and endocrinologist, while speaking at the launch of Discovering Diabetes project.