By Standard Digital Reporter

NAIROBI, KENYA: The government has been challenged to scale up its fight against Diabetes if it is to stem a reported increase in prevalence of the condition.

According to the Diabetes Management and Information Centre-(DMI), Kenya presently stands at 5 per cent prevalence rate which roughly translates to more than 2 million diagnosed cases. Yet, Eva Muchemi, the DMI Executive Director, says many more cases remain undiagnosed.

“When dealing with Diabetes diagnoses, the international rule of thumb is to attribute 2 undiagnosed cases for every reported case meaning roughly 6 million Kenyans or 15 per cent of the population could be living with the condition,” she added.

According to DMI, widespread ignorance and a general lack of awareness on Diabetes are proving to be major obstacles in the fight against the condition. At the Coast for instance, only 23 per cent of the population registered a general awareness on Diabetes which is lower than the national average of 30 per cent.

She said the government’s efforts for instance in education on causes of the disease would help save many lives at risk.

A study in the journal Diabetologia released last week linked sugary soft drinks to increasing cases of diabetes.

The study said drinking one or more cans of sugary soft drinks per day increase diabetes in later life.

"The consumption of sugar sweetened soft drinks increases your risk of diabetes - so for every can of soft drinks that you drink per day, the risk is higher," lead researcher Dora Romaguera from Imperial College London said.

She called for clearer public health information on the effects of sugary soft drinks.

"Given the increase in sweet beverage consumption in Europe, clear messages on its deleterious effect on health should be given to the population," Dr Romaguera and colleagues conclude in their research paper.

'Not definitive evidence'

An increased risk of diabetes was also linked to drinking artificially sweetened soft drinks, but this disappeared when body mass index was taken into account.

Fruit juice consumption was not associated with diabetes incidence, however.

Eva was speaking in Mombasa where DMI and the Safaricom Foundation had organized a 3 day medical camp for 45 children aged between six and 19 years. The camp was one of three sponsored by the Safaricom Foundation at a cost of shs. 20million.

During the camp, the children received free diabetes checkups, access to treatment and information on diabetes management.

“In the course of our partnership with DMI, we are increasingly seeing more young people presenting with Diabetes. Whether this is the result of an increased leaning towards a sedentary lifestyle or increased early diagnoses is unclear. What is clear though is that Diabetes cases are on the increase in Kenya and aggressive interventions will have to be put in place to curb the sure march by Diabetes towards becoming a national pandemic,” said Zaheeda Suleman, Trustee-Safaricom Foundation.

Additional reporting by BBC