Minister of health links diabetes to increasing cases of kidney failure

The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has that there is an increase in the population of Nigerians with kidney problems due to diabetes.


He spoke at a one-day Sanofi Diabetes Summit, themed, Diabetes: New Management Trends towards Improving Outcomes.

According to Adewole,  a quarter of the 15 million people living with diabetes in Africa reside in Nigeria.

He said, “Unfortunately many of these lives are lost at the peak of their prime in the fifth or sixth decade of  their lives. For the survivors, diabetes remains one of the costliest conditions to treat; expenses for some of the complications running into millions of naira per patient,  especially those who end up with  kidney failure, stroke, foot gangrene, heart disease and retinopathy.

 “Yearly, there are five million diabetes and diabetes-related deaths and every 10 seconds and  most of the increases are seen in  Africa and Asia.”

In her presentation titled, Early Detection of Diabetes Mellitus: Addressing the Challenge, Family Physician with  Korle Bu Teaching Hospital,  Ghana,  Dr. Roberta Lamptey, urged individuals to lead healthy lives by exercising regularly to reduce their risk of developing the disease.

The diabetologist said that while it is true that 80 per cent of people afflicted with obesity do not have diabetes, 80 per cent of people with diabetes are obese.

Lamptey said,“About 66 per cent of cases diabetes in Africa are undiagnosed. The story of diabetes in the sub-Saharan Africa is a disaster, but this can change if cases are detected early.”