Diabetes is causing between 350 and 450 deaths annually in Ghana’s Upper East Region alone, a medical doctor at the Upper East Regional Hospital warned during a health awareness campaign on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show.
Dr. Sherifatu Tijani, speaking about the disease’s impact, said many of these deaths result not directly from diabetes but from complications including heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, and eye diseases.
“Once you have diabetes, you are at risk of developing other complications,” Dr. Tinjani said. “If this diabetes was managed properly, we won’t get to this stage.”
Nationally, Ghana records an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 diabetes-related deaths each year, according to health data cited by the doctor.
The problem extends across Africa, where 25 million adults between ages 20 and 79 live with diabetes, resulting in 416,000 deaths annually on the continent.
Globally, 540 million adults are living with diabetes — meaning approximately one in every 10 people worldwide has the disease.
A critical challenge is that between 45% and 59% of people with diabetes remain undiagnosed, Tinjani said, because the disease often presents no symptoms.
“Sometimes somebody who has diabetes may not show symptoms,” she explained. “If you do not routinely go to a hospital or go to a pharmacy or go to a place where you can check your blood sugar, you won’t be able to detect that you have diabetes.”
Dr. Tinjani attributed the low diagnosis rates to lack of awareness and people’s reluctance to seek preventive healthcare, even when wellness clinics are available.
“You don’t need to be sick to go to the hospital,” she said, encouraging people to visit wellness clinics for routine health checks, including blood sugar screening, blood pressure monitoring, and body mass index assessments.
Source: a1radioonline.com|101.1Mhz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Bolgatanga
