This initiative forms part of a program launched to educate teachers and other staff at various local schools.“The idea is to ensure school staff are prepared to administer first aid to diabetic children, especially in times of emergency,” Hanan Sarhan of the Association of Diabetic Patient Friends, which organized a workshop on the condition this week, said.
This was the first of a series of workshops on the “Let’s fight diabetes together, now” initiative held for school staff. “The program focuses on raising the awareness of teachers and other school staff with regard to providing first aid to diabetic children at school,” he added.
A bill of diabetic students’ rights was also announced at the workshop. The bill’s objective is to provide students with a safe and suitable environment at the Kingdom’s schools.
The bill outlines seven rights for such students, including their right to receiving treatment with no discrimination during registration or attending classes, having access to food whenever and wherever the student needs to, getting blood glucose tests whenever and wherever needed, receiving insulin injections at any time, having absolute freedom in drinking water and going to restrooms, receiving the needed care when the students feels sick or tired due to blood glucose levels, in addition to having freedom in participating in sports and other activities.
Several managerial and medical staff members from Jeddah schools attended the workshop. Dr. Thanaa Amer, pediatric endocrinology and diabetes consultant at the Dr. Erfan & Bagedo General Hospital, gave a presentation on first aid for diabetic students at schools, which outlined the guidelines for schools.
The workshop also provided guidelines on how to use a blood glucose measuring device, dealing with hypoglycemia (low glucose levels) and hyperglycemia (high glucose levels), etc., in addition to focusing on the importance of having a special kit for hypoglycemia, a life threatening condition for many diabetic patients. “It is crucial to spread awareness and educate managerial and medical staff at schools to meet the challenges diabetic students face,” said Dr. Salah Mousa, general manager of Sanofi Saudi Arabia, which jointly hosted the event. The workshop focused on the incidence of diabetes across the Gulf and elsewhere in the Middle East, based on International Diabetes Fund’s statistics:
l Recent studies show that more than 3 million individuals across the Gulf region have diabetes, and that the GCC has one of the highest rates of diabetes with 21 percent of the population suffering from the disease.
l Recent estimates suggest the MENA region contains six of the 10 countries with the highest prevalence figures worldwide and with a diabetes population that is set to double by 2025.
l The Middle East has the second highest level of diabetes (9.3 percent), behind North America (10.2 percent). Experts expect this to rise, with countries such as Qatar reporting diabetes rates as high as 15-20 percent.
l GCC countries have significantly higher mean health expenditure per person on diabetes ($507-2,960) compared with others in the MENA region.
