The actions are taking place on this World Health Day, which is being commemorated under the theme: “Beat Diabetes: Scale up Prevention, Strengthen Care and Enhance Surveillance”.
They are part of HelpAge International’s annual Age Demands Action campaigns led by older activists from across the world to draw attention to the challenges they face.
Without diagnosis, care and treatment, older men and women with diabetes are more at risk of developing complications and other non-communicable diseases than younger people.
Diabetes is one of the four major non-communicable diseases (NCDs), along with cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and chronic respiratory disease.
Prevalence of diabetes increases with age in many countries. Around 9 per cent of the world’s adult population are thought to have diabetes and, according to the World Health Organisation, it will be the seventh leading cause of death globally by 2030.
Abdallah Majumbah (76), a local rights campaigner for older people in Lindi Region, says diabetes is a major cause of poor health and death among older men and women in my community.
“The lack of medical services at our health centres and dispensaries coupled with mobility challenges to access services at district hospitals further complicates the situation,” he notes.
Majumbah calls upon the government and other stakeholders to provide education on proper diet and health habits to us, and ensure drugs are available and affordable in all health facilities, “if efforts aimed at managing the disease are to succeed.”
“In 2001 and 2002, there were a few clinics managing diabetes. Awareness of diabetes and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) was almost non-existent,” Dr Hamis Kigwangala, Deputy Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, the Elderly and Children, said recently in Dar es Salaam at an international forum discussing challenges faced in implementing national diabetes programmes.
“But it is pleasing to note that currently there are diabetes clinics at all zonal, regional and district hospitals in the country. More than 2400 health care providers have so far been trained in the diagnosis and management of diabetes,” he noted.
The Sustainable Development Goals, adopted at the UN last September, commit member states to ‘ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages’ and include a target on reducing mortality from NCDs. However, the extent to which older people are affected is still unclear due to poor collection, analysis and presentation of data.
“Much of the data on diabetes either ignores older people or doesn’t disaggregate by age,” said Toby Porter, Chief Executive Officer at HelpAge International, adding:
“For countries to monitor the progress of these commitments they need to gather comprehensive data on diabetes and other non-communicable diseases for people of all ages and to disaggregate this data by age and sex at a minimum.”
In the past years, HelpAge International has been working in three districts to prevent and promote Non-Communicable Diseases through community based actions.
Active Ageing Groups formed in the project areas have created an enabling environment for older men and women to conduct physical exercise, receive information on diet and good health habits, while regular screening and home visits by health providers have opened the gateway for treatment.
Older people are calling for increased attention to ensure older men and women access regular preventative and curative affordable services as provided by the free health care policy so that preventable and manageable chronic conditions such as diabetics do not become debilitating diseases.
HelpAge International helps older people claim their rights, challenge discrimination and overcome poverty, so that they can lead dignified, secure, active and healthy lives.
Its work is strengthened through a global network of like-minded organisations widely believed to be the only one of its kind in the world.
WHO and health priority areas
Every year, the World Health Organization selects a priority area of global public health concern as the theme for World Health Day, which falls on 7 April, the birthday of the Organisation.
But diabetes – the main forms of which are type 1 and type 2 diabetes – is not just a health issue. Diabetes and its complications bring about substantial economic loss to people with diabetes and their families, and to health systems and national economies through direct medical costs and loss of work and wages.
Working to prevent, detect and treat diabetes is also critical to development. Within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Governments have set an ambitious target to reduce premature mortality from NCDs – including diabetes – by one third; achieve universal health coverage; and provide access to affordable essential medicines – all by 2030.
Diabetes is one of four priority NCDs targeted by world leaders in the 2011 Political Declaration on the Prevention and Control of NCDs and the SDGs 2016-2030.
The Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs 2013-2020 provides a roadmap and menu of policy options to attain nine voluntary global targets, including an additional target to halt the rise in diabetes and obesity by 2025.
Diabetes, therefore, is an issue relevant to people around the world, as well as multiple stakeholders, including government, civil society, the private sector, and intergovernmental agencies.
While every country and community is at a different stage in addressing its diabetes challenge, there are a number of activities that could be considered at national and local level on World Health Day 2016 to help achieve its objectives to increase awareness and trigger a set of actions to tackle diabetes.
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