Black Immigrant Daily News

Growing rates of obesity, poor diets, and lack of physical activity, among other factors, have contributed to a more than three-fold increase in the number of adults living with diabetes in the Americas in the past 30 years, according to a new report by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

The PAHO Panorama of Diabetes in the Americas, released in the run up to World Diabetes Day (November 14) calls on countries to improve early diagnosis, increase access to quality care for diabetes control, and develop strategies to promote healthy lifestyles and nutrition.

At least 62 million people live with diabetes in the Americas, a number which is expected to be much higher given that around 40% of those with the disease are unaware they have the condition. If current trends continue, the number of people with diabetes in the region is projected to reach 109 million by 2040.

The increase in cases of diabetes over three decades is linked to an increase in risk factors – Two-thirds of adults in the Americas are overweight or obese, and only 60% get enough exercise. The report also points to an alarming trend among young people in the region: over 30% are now considered to be obese or overweight – almost double the global average.

“These high rates of diabetes highlight the urgent need for countries to focus on prevention and the promotion of healthy lifestyles,” said Dr. Anselm Hennis, Director of the Department of Non-communicable Diseases and Mental Health at PAHO. “At the same time, it is crucial to ensure early diagnosis and good disease management, which are key to controlling diabetes and preventing diabetes-related disability and poor health.”

The report shows, however, that just 12 countries in the region have the six basic technologies required for the management of diabetes in public health facilities, including equipment for measuring blood glucose, tests for the early diagnosis of complications, and urine test strips for glucose and ketone analysis. “It is crucial that everyone, everywhere has access to these basic diagnosis and management tools needed to prevent related disability,” Dr. Hennis added.

The report also notes that people with diabetes have higher risks for severe forms of COVID-19 and death, highlighting the importance of integrating diabetes care into preparedness and response plans for emergencies.

In order to reduce the prevalence of the disease and enable those with diabetes to lead healthier lives and avoid complications, the report calls on countries to:

Improve the capacity for early diagnosis of diabetes and for the prevention of diabetes-related complications;
Increase availability and access to quality diabetes care, including essential medicines such as insulin, glucose-monitoring devices, and self-management support;
Build strategies and policies to promote healthy lifestyles and nutrition and prevent obesity.
Strengthen surveillance and monitoring to ensure good diabetes control.Diabetes in the Americas

Diabetes is a chronic, metabolic disease, characterized by elevated levels of blood glucose. Type 2 diabetes is the most common type, which usually occurs in adults when the body becomes resistant to or fails to produce enough insulin. Type 1 diabetes occurs when the pancreas produces little or no insulin by itself.

Diabetes is the sixth leading cause of mortality in the Americas and was responsible for over 284,000 deaths in 2019. It is also the second highest cause of disability in the region, preceded only by ischemic heart disease. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in people aged 40 to 74, lower extremity amputations, and chronic kidney disease. In addition, diabetes triples the risk of death by cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, or cancer.

While type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented, it can be managed. Measures are available, however, to prevent type 2 diabetes, including policies and programs to promote good health and nutrition, regular exercise, avoiding smoking and controlling blood pressure.

PAHO continues to support countries in designing, implementing, and evaluating strategies to prevent and control diabetes. PAHO’s Strategic Fund works to strengthen universal access to essential medicines and technologies for the treatment of diabetes in the region, enabling Member States to obtain insulin at low-cost prices. The WHO Global Diabetes Compact also reinforces this commitment and provides a roadmap for countries to tackle diabetes.

World Diabetes Day is held every year on 14 November on the birthday of Dr. Frederic Banting, a co-discoverer of insulin, to raise awareness of diabetes.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

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Growing rates of obesity, poor diets, and lack of physical activity, among other factors, have contributed to a more than three-fold increase in the number of adults living with diabetes in the Americas in the past 30 years according to a new report by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

The PAHO Panorama of Diabetes in the Americas, released in the run up to World Diabetes Day (November 14) calls on countries to improve early diagnosis, increase access to quality care for diabetes control, and develop strategies to promote healthy lifestyles and nutrition.

At least 62 million people live with diabetes in the Americas, a number which is expected to be much higher given that around 40% of those with the disease are unaware they have the condition.

If current trends continue, the number of people with diabetes in the region is projected to reach 109 million by 2040.

– Advertisement –

The increase in cases of diabetes over three decades is linked to an increase in risk factors – Two-thirds of adults in the Americas are overweight or obese, and only 60% get enough exercise. The report also points to an alarming trend among young people in the region: over 30% are now considered to be obese or overweight – almost double the global average.

“These high rates of diabetes highlight the urgent need for countries to focus on prevention and the promotion of healthy lifestyles,” said Dr. Anselm Hennis, Director of the Department of Non-communicable Diseases and Mental Health at PAHO.

“At the same time, it is crucial to ensure early diagnosis and good disease management, which are key to controlling diabetes and preventing diabetes-related disability and poor health.”

The report shows, however, that just 12 countries in the region have the six basic technologies required for the management of diabetes in public health facilities, including equipment for measuring blood glucose, tests for the early diagnosis of complications, and urine test strips for glucose and ketone analysis.

“It is crucial that everyone, everywhere has access to these basic diagnosis and management tools needed to prevent related disability,” Dr. Hennis added.

The report also notes that people with diabetes have higher risks for severe forms of COVID-19 and death, highlighting the importance of integrating diabetes care into preparedness and response plans for emergencies.

In order to reduce the prevalence of the disease and enable those with diabetes to lead healthier lives and avoid complications, the report calls on countries to:

Improve the capacity for early diagnosis of diabetes and for the prevention of diabetes-related complications;
Increase availability and access to quality diabetes care, including essential medicines such as insulin, glucose-monitoring devices, and self-management support;
Build strategies and policies to promote healthy lifestyles and nutrition and prevent obesity.
Strengthen surveillance and monitoring to ensure good diabetes control.

SOURCE: Pan American Health Organization/SLT

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Photo: Superintendent Gerald Jones, Deputy for HNCIB

by Charles Gladden

ORANGE WALK TOWN, Thurs. Nov. 10, 2022

Alarm began to spread among parents all over the country after reports began circulating this week about separate failed attempts to kidnap two little girls – a 6-year-old from Orange Walk Town and a 12-year-old in Belize City. There were even claims that a mystery van had been trailing children, and that a police officer had issued warnings about the van in a WhatsApp chat group. Police are now claiming, however, following an investigation by the department, that the two minors made up the stories about being lured by kidnappers.

On Tuesday, November 8, at around 4:00 p.m., Mimi Novelo, the mother of the 6-year-old in Orange Walk, made a social media post in which she desperately begged members of the public to assist her in locating her little girl, a student of St. Peter’s Anglican School, who went missing after classes finished at 2:30 in the afternoon.

Novelo said that she made checks at all the possible familiar locations to which the child could have gone, but the little girl was nowhere to be found.

“… We searched all over in the school. I found my bigger daughter; she was in her class. I call her … I ask her where is her little sister. She said, ‘Mommy, I don’t know where she is.’ She asks if she didn’t go with Tio Luis. I told her, ‘No, Tio Luis says she is not there’. She said, ‘Mommy, where she could have gone?’ and I told her, ‘I don’t know; let’s go find her.’ I ask everywhere. I even went to A & R. I walk way back by SP, and I said ‘you know what: I can’t do this by myself.’ I called all my family members. I called people that I know and went to the police station,” said Novelo.

She further noted that her daughter is an exceptionally friendly child who has a tendency to hug those around her, including her teachers, and that it possibly made her a target for a woman who lured her away by offering her ice cream.

“A man who told me that he recognized my daughter told me that she was playing in the park. I told him I went to the park and my daughter was not there, and he said ‘no, she is there, and I scolded her to come back.’ He said she was with a Creole lady with a little girl; they were playing, and he said she [was] coming, and so I ran to see my daughter. My daughter was afraid, like she was scared. Maybe she thought I would beat her, but then I said I can’t just go and beat my daughter. I’m happy that my daughter is alive and walking toward me. I ran to my daughter and I hug my daughter, and when I saw my daughter, I ask her what happened, and why did you [go]. She said, ‘Mom, there was a black lady with a little girl. I was standing there in the shop and they told me that will take me to buy ice cream.’ My daughter’s weakness is ice cream … ‘She took me to buy ice cream, and then we went to play and then the lady afterward went away.’ I told my daughter already not [to] talk to strangers, do not take [anything] from strangers,” Novelo said.

The other purported kidnapping attempt took place in Belize City and reportedly involved a 12-year-old girl who said that she was in the vicinity of 88 Shopping Center at the corner of Central American Boulevard and Pen Road when two mysterious men attempted to kidnap her and put her into a heavily tinted black van. But she said that they did not succeed in seizing her because there was an onlooker on the street who saw what was happening.

Members of the public became aware of the child’s claims after the circulation of a WhatsApp voice note that had reportedly been sent to a chat group for parents of students at a particular school by a female assistant police superintendent, who is herself a mother, who stated in that message, “CIB officers have interviewed the child in the presence of her parents and the child was really shaken up and doesn’t really want to go in depth. However, the child is saying that this occurred at 88 Shopping Center that is located corner Neal Pen Road and Central American Boulevard by the stoplight. She is saying that she was coming to school this morning when she was approached from behind. Occupants of the vehicle were two dark complexioned male persons and the van is black and tinted. Presently, police are investigating the matter, trying to view cameras in the area. For right now I am asking all those on this blog or who could pass on this information to alert and inform people to have their children be on the lookout. I get to understand this said van was in Ladyville.”

When local reporters were briefed via Zoom by Superintendent Gerald Jones, Deputy of the Police Department’s HNICB, however, he said that their investigation into the claims has revealed that both stories were fabricated. He went on to say that the police plan to interview the parents of the children, and if police decide to bring charges in connection with the incidents, those charges will be levied against the parents.

Additionally, he said that reports of a mysterious black van in the city—accompanied by images of the van that were circulated on social media to alert parents—were also found to be false.

“[As] I said, we have conducted investigations that have been proven to us not to be true, and we just want to assure the general public to remain alert still. In whatever a situation may occur in terms of reports, bring it forward to the police, and we will investigate all these matters and give assurance to the public,” said Jones.

Jones said that the Police Department, by means of media platforms, as well as community policing efforts that will include visits to schools, will be spreading awareness to young ones and the public about actual abduction cases.

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