Africa: Diabetes - deadly, underfunded and unidentified
Even though diabetes is as lethal as HIV/AIDS and cases in Africa have nearly doubled to more than seven million within the past 15 years, according to the International Diabetes Federation, the illness receives scant attention from donors or governments in Africa.
DAKAR, 3 March 2009 (IRIN) - Diabetes, which the UN World Health Organization says causes about six percent of deaths worldwide every year, is a chronic condition that occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces.
Nutritionist Stéphane Besançon, director of the non-profit Malian Association to Control Diabetes, told IRIN that urbanisation, sedentarisation, affordable motor transport, food imports and industrialisation have taken their toll on Malians' health.
“With cheaper motorbikes, people simply walk less. Artisanal oil that used to be made through drip processes are now produced and imported en masse, which has had a negative effect on diets.”
In the category of internal medicine, diabetes is the second leading cause of hospitalisation after HIV/AIDS in Mali and the reason behind 40 percent of all visits according to the Health Ministry, based on the most recent data from 1996. Bescançon said diabetes data is hard to find and that the government is conducting a nationwide survey to update these figures.
Besançon said some cultural factors heighten risk, such as eating out of a communal bowl, which discourages portion control, and perceptions of obesity as a sign of beauty and prestige.
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