Remove obstacles hindering access to diabetes drugs, don urges govt

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Angela Onwuzoo

Citing the impact of the economic hardship on diabetes medication and supplies, a Professor of Medicine at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Olufemi Fasanmade, has urged the Federal and state governments to remove barriers denying people living with diabetes in Nigeria access to treatment.

Fasanmade, a consultant endocrinologist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, said the government should prioritise diabetes care like malaria and HIV by providing free community screening and subsidising the cost of diabetes drugs.

He noted that regular screening was crucial for early detection of diabetes, affirming that early detection leads to better management and desired treatment outcomes.

The diabetologist spoke at a virtual media roundtable meeting organised by a multinational pharmaceutical company, Novo Nordisk, to commemorate the 2024 World Diabetes Day with the theme, ‘Breaking the barriers, bridging the gaps’.

Diabetes is a chronic, lifelong condition that results in uncontrolled blood sugar levels, either because the body cannot produce insulin or cannot effectively use the insulin it does make.

World Diabetes Day, celebrated on November 14 every year, provides an opportunity to raise awareness about diabetes as a critical global public health issue and emphasize the collective and individual actions needed to improve the prevention, diagnosis, and management of the condition.

The World Health Organisation says the number of people living with diabetes in the African region is projected to rise to 54 million by 2045, marking the highest predicted increase globally if urgent action is not taken.

The global health body notes that the rising prevalence of diabetes in Africa is driven by factors such as urbanisation, unhealthy diets, and lack of physical activity.

“Without urgent intervention, it is predicted that the number of people living with diabetes in the African region will rise to 54 million by 2045, the highest projected increase globally. This poses a significant dual health and economic burden, with individuals facing catastrophic costs to manage their condition”, WHO added.

Fasanmade stressed that early detection of diabetes was important to prevent severe complications such as kidney failure, blindness, and heart disease, which were often expensive to treat and could severely impact the quality of life.

“That’s why screening is so important. If detected early, diabetes can be managed effectively, preventing serious complications,” he said.

He stated that diabetes had become a rapidly growing social challenge worldwide that required urgent action, lamenting that the condition had an economic, social, and mental impact on both those living with it, their families, and society at large.

In his presentation titled, ‘Diabetes and Factors impacting people living with diabetes”, Fasanmade expressed worry that due to lack of access to standard diabetes care and approved medication, many Nigerians living with the condition were unable to manage and effectively control their blood sugar.

He revealed that a lot of diabetes patients were unable to achieve the desired outcomes because they were battling severe and life-threatening complications such as heart disease, hypertension, foot ulcers, and kidney problems associated with the poor management of the condition.

The immediate past President of the Endocrine and Metabolism Society of Nigeria disclosed that owing to poor access to standard treatment, only about six percent of people living with diabetes could achieve the desired outcomes.

He noted that Nigeria had an alarming rate of over three million adults living with diabetes with disturbing morbidity and mortality, stressing that the figure would rise to 7. 9 million by 2045 if urgent actions were not taken to reverse the worrisome trend,

The don urged the government to enroll more Nigerians into the National Health Insurance Authority to reduce out-of-pocket payments for healthcare.

He further enjoined the government to improve healthcare delivery in the country by strengthening primary healthcare centres and the capacity of health workers to boost diabetes care, especially in rural areas where many people living with the condition were unaware.

The physician commended the government for removing tax from imported pharmaceutical products, urging it to do more.

Fasanmade also appealed to the media to increase awareness about diabetes and ensure that accurate information with proven facts was disseminated to the public.

He urged journalists to debunk the myths and misconceptions surrounding diabetes by speaking to professionals in the field of diabetes management to combat the stigma, discrimination, and isolation associated with the condition.

To people diagnosed with diabetes, he advised them to go for regular health checks, control their blood sugar, eat healthily, maintain a healthy lifestyle, and weight, and also ensure that they take their approved medicines as recommended by their physicians regularly.

The endocrinologist urged them to be wary of unapproved medicines especially those with labels written in foreign languages such as Arabic inscriptions.

He warned that using unapproved drugs could worsen their conditions and might result in uncontrolled blood sugar, emergency hospital admission, disease complications, adverse reactions, and even death.

 

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