UNSWEET LIFE

Diabetics in Azerbaijan are currently getting from the state 115 medicines of vital importance as in-patients and 141 as out-patients. The list is to be expanded in future. According to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Health, this will happen as part of the State Programme on Diabetes for 2011-15. Apart from that, this category of patients is given free glucometers and test strips to measure the level of sugar in their blood. The Health Ministry admits that the allocation of the full range of vital medicines will require a large amount of funding. But this is necessary in order to improve the situation in this field. Just like in the rest of the world, the incidence of this terrible disease is on the rise in Azerbaijan, and today there are almost 140,000 registered diabetics in our country.

All the industrialized countries of the world today face the problem of improving quality of life for people affected by this disease. Today there are 360 million people with sugar diabetes in the world. According to the International Diabetes Federation, if no effective measures are taken, the number of patients will grow to 500 million soon. In a 20 December 2006 resolution, the UN General Assembly acknowledges that diabetes is a chronic and tiring disease that requires major expenditure. It is accompanied by heavy complications and poses a great danger to families, states and the world at large. According to calculations, the world health system spent about 378 billion dollars on diabetes in 2010 alone. This is 12 per cent of all expenditure in the world health system.

There is also a similar situation with this disease in our country. It should be taken into account that we can only guess the number of unregistered patients, because there are people who are totally unaware that they have diabetes. There are also people who deliberately avoid doctors, even if they feel the symptoms of this disease. In this situation, the disease is discovered by accident when someone seeks medical attention for other reasons. According to the World Health Organization, 4-5 per cent of the world population are diabetics. Currently, in order to improve the quality of life for patients, governments around the world, including in Azerbaijan, are seeking ways and means to prevent the spread of diabetes.

For example, Type 2 diabetes is common in our country, and can be treated mainly with a strict diet and physical exercise if possible. When such treatment does not help, medicines that reduce the amount of sugar in the blood are prescribed. If such treatment is ineffective, these medicines are used in combination with insulin. If the residual secretion of insulin totally runs out, they switch to insulin monotherapy. The most alarming fact is that diabetes is becoming "younger" in Azerbaijan. This means that the number of children with sugar diabetes has increased compared to other years, ombudswoman Elmira Suleymanova said at a news conference recently. "Diabetes is not a disease typical of children. But today this disease has become younger. Compared to previous years, it is spreading to children more and more. Among currently registered diabetes patients, 886 are children below 18. Among the patients registered by the centre in Baku, 291 are below 18. This number is growing day by day. Among them are five children below the age of three. The age of most patients is 12-13 years," she said. Hereditary factors play the biggest role in the spread of the disease. Suleymanova stressed that wayward eating, stress and extra-weight also play a great role in this. Regular measures are being taken to protect children's health.

For example, in order to increase the level of knowledge and draw attention to the spread of diabetes, the Ministry of Health has held 1,680 training sessions for 2,520 diabetes patients at the Public Health and Reform Centre (ISIM). Training sessions have also been held for doctors, nurses and people in risk groups. The training was delivered by endocrinologists and nurses that attended courses at ISIM. Along with that, booklets, brochures, posters and textbooks were published for educational purposes.

It must be pointed out that the International Diabetes Federation insistently recommends that the population should be instructed and educated as a matter of priority in preventing sugar diabetes. With this aim, the Azerbaijani diabetes community has submitted the project "Organization of Diabetes Schools" to the World Diabetes Foundation. The purpose of the project is to create training schools in urban and rural areas in our country, increase the level of knowledge, expertise and prevention of the consequences of the disease among physicians, diabetics and people in risk groups. Within the framework of the State Programme on Diabetes in 2011-15, seven diabetes schools will be created - in Baku, Sumqayit, Ganca, Mingacevir, Lankaran, Saki and Sirvan. They will be provided with the necessary equipment, programmes, textbooks and literature. 

What is a diabetes school? In Western countries, such institutions are quite common, and they are of great importance. The International Diabetes Federation has identified teaching patients how to control their health as a priority in the fight against diabetes. Education is also important. And this will play an important role in the success of the fight against the diabetes epidemic, which is also called the most treacherous disease of the century. It is precisely self-control that is one of the best ways to maintain diabetes patients' health during the long period of treatment, which also implies a joint fight against this disease by the endocrinologist and patient and the patient's parents and loved ones.

In this case, we mean the study and daily use of special rules by patients to control the disease and manage it. It's not possible to maintain the level of glycaemia just by relying on doctors' advice to take tablets and inject insulin. It is a very difficult disease that defies any clear schemes of treatment. During everyday treatment, it is difficult to achieve a standard regime of physical activity and food and avoid complications from accompanying diseases, etc. For this reason, in every specific situation, the patient should be aware of and know how to regulate the dose of insulin and food. That's to say he should know the amount of bread he eats and decide on the amount of physical activity. Patients can get all this knowledge and expertise during special lessons on self-control at diabetes schools organized at medical institutions that have diabetes services.

OUR NOTE

World Diabetes Day is marked on 14 November every year. This day was first marked by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization in 1991 in order to coordinate the fight against diabetes around the world. The date was chosen in recognition of the contribution of one of the discoverers of insulin, Frederick Banting, who was born on 14 November 1891. Since 2007, this day has been marked under the aegis of the United Nations. A special resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on 20 December 2006 suggests that member states develop national programmes to fight diabetes and look after diabetics. It is recommended that these programmes take into account the Millennium Development goals.