An estimated 37.4 million people with diabetes live in the region. The PanAmerican Health Organisation projects that by 2025 this number will rise to 64 million, of which more than 40 million will live in Latin American and the Caribbean.”
These alarming statistics were given by president of the Diabetes Association of Barbados (DAB), Noreen Merritt, as she quoted information provided by the Barbados Diabetes Foundation. She was speaking at a church service yesterday to mark the 35th anniversary of the DAB at St. Paul’s Anglican Church on Bay Street.
In light of this the Association is now more dedicated than ever to raising the awareness of the health risks associated with unhealthy eating habits and sedentary lifestyles.
“The International Diabetes Foundation states that there are more than 300 million people worldwide living with diabetes, and within a generation that number is expected to reach half a billion,” stated the DAB president. She then continued to show that in 2002 it was reported that there is a 17.5 per cent prevalence of diabetes amongst the Afro-Barbadian population and confirmed that alarming statistics viewed just last week showed a 14.5 per cent prevalence in Barbados.
In an attempt to help control the spread of this chronic disease, mitigating its impact of members of society, the country and the economy by extension, “these statistics have resulted in widespread focus and attention on decreasing the prevalence of diabetes in Barbados and the Caribbean region,” said Merritt.
The Diabetes Association of Barbados is more committed to increasing the awareness of the disease and motivating persons to self-manage their symptoms. Self-management is one of the main ways by which the disease can be better managed and controlled.
The Association will continue to engage in community outreach educating the population, targeting children and adolescents in schools and adults island wide because it is their belief that “the educated patient and family/caregivers are the best partners in the difficult process of managing and controlling diabetes”.
