The Aga Khan Hospital in Dar es Salaam is set to conduct a free medical checkups and counselling on diabetes at Mlimani City. According to the Family Medicine Specialist at the hospital, Dr Liwayway Hussein, diabetes was nowadays affecting more people in the Least Developing Countries (LDC) than in the developed world
“The rate of diabetic cases is now alarming, even people as young as 35 are presently facing the problem in the country, while just a few years the condition was only common amongst the aged,” she said.
Dr Hussein said due to the change of lifestyles among the people, excessive consumption of take-away foods, spending a lot of time in cars or sitting in the office, one was likely to develop diabtetes. She said many people especially in urban areas were not engaging themselves in physical exercises, a reason for many getting un-proportional weight to their height ratio. Speaking to journalists yesterday in Dar es Salaam, the Aga Khan Marketing Manager Eugenia Chanda said,”We have decided to take the clinic out closer to the people, because the majority of them do not have time to visit health centres for such checkups.”
Ms Chanda said the exercise is expected to attract many people wishing to be screened and that after knowing their status, the patients would have the option to undergo treatment at any hospital. A similar clinic would be organised at Kivukoni for Kigamboni residents on September 4, this year. The reason for choosing the area, Ms Chanda said, was to have people of all cadres screened as they continue with their daily businesses.
The marketing manager noted that those people who would not get the opportunity to attend the checkups at either of the two points, the hospital would organise a third free-diabetic checkup on the afternoon of September 7, this year. Two months ago, the Aga Khan conducted a free medical clinic that attracted more than 200 patients with orthopaedic-related problems. They were all offered free treatment and counselling. However, Dr Hussein stressed, people should always rush for a check-up once they detect symptoms of the disease, which include high blood pressure, persistent thirst, an unusual freequency urination, or history of relatives diagnosed with diabetes.
Source: All Africa
Inactivity and too much sugar anf processed foods can be the culprit of this problems, imo