The prevalence of diabetes is growing at an alarming rate in Papua New Guinea.
Statistics from the Port Moresby General Hospital and Gerehu confirms the increasing number of new cases since the opening of the Diabetes clinic in July 2013 of which by the end of the first year, 70 new cases were diagnosed.
After two years, more than 200 people are now registered with diabetes in Gerehu and close to half of all adults living with diabetes are unaware of their disease.
“Most of these cases are type 2 diabetes,” says Dr Lutty Amos, President Diabetic Association of PNG.
Dr. Amos says a person with type 2 diabetes can live for several years without showing any symptoms.
“During those times, high blood glucose is silently damaging the body and therefore there is an urgent need to screen diagnoses and provide appropriate treatment to people with diabetes,” says Dr Amos.
The World Diabetes Day had highlighted some of the feasible and cost effective solutions that exist to help identify people undiagnosed type 2 diabetes and those at risk of developing it in the future.
Diabetes according to www.worlddiabetesday.org is said to be leading cause of cardiovascular disease, blindness, kidney failure and lower- limb amputation and over one third of all people currently living with type 1 and 2 diabetes will develop some form of damage to their eyes that can lead to blindness.
Dr Amos says these complications can be prevented by maintaining blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol levels as close to normal as possible.
“Many complications can be picked up in their early stages through the screening process so that treatment can be given to prevent them becoming more serious.”