• Many young Nigerians coming down with hypertension, says Fasawe
Indications have emerged that about five million Nigerians may suffer from diabetes, a Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) by 2030, causing anxiety among professionals.
The projection was part of the recent reviews and meta-analyses by the International Diabetes Foundation (IDF), which showed that as of 2021, over 3.6 million people were diabetic with 53 per cent undiagnosed.
The Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Dr Muhammed Ali Pate, at the National Conference on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSB) Tax in Abuja, lamented that the cost of treating diabetes had continued to increase from an average of N60,000 per person in 2011 to N800, 000 in 2021 and is projected to exceed N1,000,000 by 2030.
Continuous consumption of sugary drinks has been linked to numerous health risks, including obesity, heart disease, weight gain, type-2 diabetes, kidney diseases, non-alcoholic liver disease, tooth decay, cavities and gout. Pate warned that Nigeria faced a growing health crisis of SSB-related diseases such as obesity and diabetes with escalating costs of healthcare.
Classified as a non-communicable disease, diabetes is a chronic, metabolic disease characterised by elevated levels of blood glucose or blood sugar, which over time, leads to serious damage to the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys and nerves.
The minister explained that the SSB tax aimed to reduce the consumption of unhealthy beverages and, ultimately, prevent obesity and its related diseases. He added that the SSB tax should be viewed as a cornerstone of the strategy to improve public health and healthcare financing.
Pate discouraged the consumption of sugar-laden beverages and noted that the ministry aimed to reduce the prevalence of obesity and diabetes and alleviate the financial burden on the healthcare system.
The Executive Director of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), Akinbode Oluwafemi, warned that Nigeria was under siege as NCDs surge at an alarming and unprecedented rate, accounting for 29 per cent of all deaths in Nigeria with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) alone responsible for 11 per cent of these fatalities.
Popularly known as soft drinks, Oluwafemi emphasised that although SSBs offer no nutritional value, they have taken over the food shelves of many, simply because the industry and big food corporations had chosen to prioritise profit over public health, exploiting loopholes in food policies and regulations to push their products and evade accountability.
MEANWHILE, the Mandate Secretary, FCT Health Services and Environment Secretariat, Dr Adedolapo Fasawe, has warned that diabetes and hypertension are no longer diseases associated with the older age group as many young people are now coming down with the conditions.
She urged Nigerians to regularly check their blood pressure and blood sugar as early diagnosis and prompt treatment are crucial to reducing the high burden of the diseases.
Speaking at the flag-off of the one week free diabetes and hypertension screening, tagged Project 10 Million initiative, with the slogan “ Know Your Number, Control Your Number”, yesterday, in Abuja, Fasawe observed that non-communicable diseases were currently on the increase, not only in Nigeria but globally.
She stated that a study showed that the North Central part of the country had one of the highest prevalence of hypertension and diabetes in Nigeria.
Fasawe, who highlighted the need for people to pay special attention to their blood pressure and blood sugar numbers, noted that the FCTA will screen 250,000 residents for hypertension and diabetes within the next one week as part of efforts to reduce the prevalence of non-communicable diseases.
