[ad_1]
Concern has grown over the past decade that much of the way health systems are structured in Africa is set up to manage communicable diseases such as malaria. But as the region of Sub-Saharan Africa in particular has seen a growing middle class, it has also seen an increase in noncommunicable diseases including heart disease, blood pressure, kidney failure, and most of all diabetes, which is growing at an alarming rate.
The World Health Organization now says that 18.3 percent, or nearly one in five, of COVID-19 deaths in Africa were found among people with diabetes in an analysis of 14 African countries. So far, some 46,626 deaths have been recorded in Africa, far fewer both in absolute terms and per capita than in Europe and the Americas.
It has been widely reported in various health studies that people living with diabetes are more likely to die if infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. One report suggested that the risk of death is more than twice that of non-diabetic patients. A population-wide study in England showed that one third of Covid-19-related deaths occurred in people with diabetes:
Although the incidence rates of people with diabetes in Africa remain relatively low, the diabetes trend in sub-Saharan Africa has been a cause for concern as the disease burden is increasing.
Last year, while only 19 million of the 436 million people living with diabetes worldwide are in sub-Saharan Africa, about 60% of them were unaware of their condition, the highest of all regions. . But the number of people with diabetes is expected to increase by 48% in 2030 and 143% in 2045. The economic burden of diabetes in the region was estimated at $ 9.5 billion in 2019 and is expected to rise to $ 17.4 billion. dollars by 2045.
Despite this worrying trend, only about a third of the 41 countries in the region have fully functioning healthcare facilities for diabetic patients. As the world celebrated this year’s Diabetes Day on November 14, WHO called for investment in diabetes early detection, prevention and treatment in Africa.
A person develops diabetes when their body does not produce insulin or does not use the amount it produces properly. Insulin is a hormone that controls blood glucose levels. When all goes well, it can keep glucose levels at the right amounts. When the system fails, either because insulin-producing pancreatic cells, called beta cells, are under attack by antibodies, or because the cells have become insulin resistant, the patient is at risk of developing diabetes.
Traditionally there have been two main types of diabetes, although scientists in recent years have considered classifying them as five types. Living with this condition can lead to blindness, kidney failure, or lower limb amputation, all of which increase the likelihood of heart attack or stroke.
The rise in diabetes prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa has been linked to rising incomes, urbanization, and changing eating and working habits in the region. This means that as more and more African countries continue to emerge from low-income economies to high-income economies, there may also be a higher prevalence of diabetes on the continent.
Sign up for Quartz Africa’s Weekly Brief here for African business, technology and innovation news and analysis in your inbox
Source link
