JEDDAH, 21 June 2006 — The government will carry out a major public awareness campaign about diabetes by the beginning of next academic year. It will also work out a national strategy to deal with the disease that is threatening to become the No. 1 killer in the Kingdom, according to Health Minister Hamad Al-Manie.
The minister made the statement after receiving a report on the increase of diabetes cases in the Kingdom from Dr. Khaled Al-Rubaian, supervisor of the national register for diabetes and director of the diabetes center at King Saud University’s College of Medicine in Riyadh.
Al-Manie said the ministry had decided to establish a number of diabetic treatment centers in different parts of the country as part of its efforts to control the disease. The government spends nearly SR36 billion on the treatment of diabetic patients every year.
Khaled Al-Mirghalani, general supervisor of media and health awareness and spokesman for the Health Ministry, said 20 new diabetes centers would be established in different parts of the Kingdom. “We are now in the process of inviting tenders to implement these health projects,” he said.
“By its very nature, diabetes is a multisystem disease with wide-ranging complications that affect all regions of the body,” said Khetam Al-Marshad, health and diabetes educator at the King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital.
The goal of diabetes education is to help the patient learn self-management of the malady. “Complications from diabetes can lead to blindness, kidney failure, heart disease, nerve damage, amputations and even death,” she said.
Rubaian said the main objective of the research study, which was carried out in association with a number of experts, was to understand the extent of the disease’s spread in the Kingdom, the social problems it creates as well as its economic impact and geographical distribution.
According to the study, the number of diabetics in the Kingdom grew from two percent to 10 percent in 10 years. About 50 percent of diabetics in the Kingdom are within the age group of 25 to 45 years.
The study also showed that the majority of people suffering from diabetes in the Kingdom are women, especially those living in cities. A considerable number of children have also fallen victim to the disease. Some 2,000 cases have been reported in children in Riyadh alone.
“We believe that the number of such cases will eventually exceed 5,000, as many cases are not recorded,” Rubaian pointed out.
“Diabetics is a chronic disease that demands continuous treatment and follow-up,” Mirghalani explained. Experts say about 25 to 30 percent of the Kingdom’s population suffer from diabetes, costing the government SR3 billion per month in treatment. As much as 52 percent of the population is obese, making them vulnerable to diabetes.
