Diabetes: Nigerians Urged To Know Their Status

 

 

Dr. Alayo Sopekan, the National Desk Officer, Diabetes of the Federal Ministry of Health, is advising Nigerians to go for testing so as to know their diabetes status.

He had mentioned this yesterday in Abuja at a stakeholders’ engagement on the iCARE initiatives in Nigeria, that was organised by Novo Nordisk in a collaboration with the Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology of Nigeria (SPAEN) and the Federal Ministry of Health.

According to him, doing so was necessary in the early detection of the disease as anyone could suffer from it, irrespective of family history.

 

Read Also: 11.2m People Live with Diabetes in Nigeria – Experts

 

Dr. Sopekan, who is also the deputy national coordinator, the Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) Department, had called upon states and local governments to create NCD control desks to reduce the tide of the disease.

Jude Abonu, the Business Unit Head, English West Africa, Novo Nordisk, stated that the iCARE initiative is geared towards the acceleration of access to treatment for patients who are living with diabetes in Africa in a sustainable manner by leveraging on four key areas which are: capacity, affordability, reach and empowerment.

He explained that the Changing Diabetes in Children programme (CDiC) of iCARE aims to reach 2,400 children as well as train 380 HCPs, working through 30 facilities by 2025, while the aim of the Affordability programme is to reach 12,000 patients with affordable insulin through 100 implementing facilities, while also building the capacity of 450 Health Care Providers (HCPs) by 2023.