The Ministry of Health and Sports held a videoconference ahead of World Diabetes Day yesterday.

World Diabetes Day 2020 is soon to come on 14 November and the theme for this year is ‘The Nurse and Diabetes’.

At the meeting, Union Minister Dr Myint Htwe said there are more than 463 million cases of diabetes around the world with 4.2 million deaths as a result of the disease annually according to World Health Organization data.

A WHO STEPS Survey conducted in Myanmar in 2014 states 10.5% of individuals between the ages of 15 to 64 have diabetes, and 19.7% of them die due to diabetes-related incidents. Diabetes and other non-communicable diseases are increasingly caused by our lax attitude to maintaining health and changes in diet and lifestyle, and as a result, a WHO conference in 2006 decided to mark 14 November as World Diabetes Day.

Preventing diabetes goes a long way in protecting the health of all citizens and also reduces the national expenditure for treating diabetes cases which can be channelled towards advancing other medical ventures.

MoHS has distributed mobile tablets to health personnel across its departments which contain general information on diabetes and other health topics. And the ministry has to review and amend that content to ensure it is easily conveyed in an understandable manner, said Dr Myint Htwe.

The ministry has organized free diabetes clinics across its more than 10,000 health-related departments across the nation that are open to the public every Wednesday. Over 3.2 million people have come to get examined at the clinics between May 2017 and June this year. The clinics diagnosed about 400,000 of those examinees with diabetes and about 880,000 with hypertension.

About 94% of deaths caused by COVID-19 in Myanmar had an underlying disease, and of that number, 36% had diabetes, 30% had hypertension, and 19% had both. The Union Minister urged public health and sports officials to organize public exercise programmes complete with checklists.

The ministry collaborates with HelpAge International to provide training for its health personnel in improving their skills related to non-communicable diseases. A collaboration with Novo Nordisk produced the Myanmar PEN Application filled with information on non-communicable diseases installed in the mobile tablets.

Dr Ko Ko, manager of the diabetes prevention and containment programme, explained ongoing processes and future plans regarding diabetes and Dr Kyaw Kan Kaung, Deputy Director-General of the Preventing Non-communicable Diseases, explained the Myanmar PEN Application.

State and regional public health department heads and officials discussed their activities, requirements and suggestions to which the Union Minister responded with advice and instructions. The Union Minister also viewed a mini-exhibition on diabetes prevention.

The meeting also provided medical examinations for staff with diabetes from office no.4 of the minister and other departments.

MNA

(Translated by Zaw Htet Oo)

PHOTO: MNA

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