Speakers, most of them young speakers, at 25th International Children's Health Conference urged the people to adopt diabetes preventive measures as managing diabetes is not so difficult to follow but it can be managed by choosing a simple life style, daily exercise, walking, balanced diet and avoiding sugar intake and smoking.
The conference was held on April 6, 2016 and organised jointly by Hamdard Public School and Hamdard Foundation Pakistan on the World Health Organisation (W.H.O.)'s theme for the 2016 "Beat diabetes" on the occasion of World Health Day 2016, presided over by Dr Sara Salman, head of W.H.O. Sindh Office at a local hotel.
Speaking on the occasion the chief guest of the conference and renowned diabetologist, Dr Fatema Jawad said that there were approximately 7.1 million (10.7 percent) diabetic patients in Pakistan and the numbers would increase by 11.1 percent by 2020. People must be encouraged to take preventive measures against this disease and government should provide facility of awareness centers to public as hitherto no figure of child patients of diabetes are available, she added.
She discussed in detail the types and reasons of diabetes including gestational and pregnancy diabetes and stressed unless people changed their life style the situation would not be changed. 'People have become lazy, they eat more and got obesity, resulting in diabetes and abdominal fat resists insulin, she said adding: 'If diabetes is diagnosed don't delay to consult physician, avoid fast food, burgers and chips and other junk foods, but don't skip food and don't eat more but eat healthy diet, walk and exercise daily and that is the pillar and principle to control diabetes.
Highlighting the threats and consequences of diabetes, she said that this disease could destroy gums and teeth, create swelling on face and foot, sever pain in body and lead to glaucoma, blindness and sudden death, she warned.
Earlier, Sadia Rashid, President, Hamdard Foundation Pakistan while delivering conference address said that quarter of a century had elapsed since Hamdard held its first international children's health conference and that ground-breaking event - the very first conference for and by children was the result of one of the innovative ideas of Shaheed Hakim Mohammed Said in Pakistan, and was one more proof of his determination to give children's voices a chance to be heard. Since then, it has become a tradition of Hamdard to hold this international children's health conference, on or around World Health Day - 7 April on the theme for that year provided by the W.H.O., she added.
She said, the modern technology and the lifestyle were the main factors in the growth rate of the disease. The car has reduced people's need to walk and television has replaced the necessity of more physical forms of entertainment as children are more occupied with watching cartoon or playing video games, resulting diabetes among juveniles, she added. 'Research continues, not just for medicine, but also monitoring devices, but the best weapons are still simple: Sensible food in sensible quantities; and sufficient exercise to tone the muscles and burn the calories consumed,' she said, adding: 'Let us all vow to take the 'die' out of diabetes'!
Dr Sara Salman in her presidential address said that every year the World Health Organisation (W.H.O.) selected a priority area of global public concern as the theme of World Health Day, which fell on 7th April, the birthday of organisation. 'The theme of WHD 2016 is 'Let us beat the diabetes' which is characterised by elevated blood glucose levels. Today 422 million adults have been affected in the world four times more than in 1980 and this disease was rising fastest in the world's low and middle income countries and Pakistan was one of them and in 2012 where diabetes caused 1.5 million deaths.-PR