18.3% of COVID-19 deaths in Africa connected to diabetes — WHO

By Doosuur Iwambe

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that about 18.3% of COVID-19 deaths in the African region are among people with diabetes.

According to the WHO analysis of 14 African countries, which provided information on COVID-19 and comorbidities, diabetes is one of the conditions that global studies have found to increase the risk of severe illness and death among patients infected with the virus.

The analysis revealed that risk of complications or death from COVID-19 among people with diabetes increases with age, with people aged between 60years and above facing greater risks.

Reacting to the development, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti said, people living with diabetes are in the dark as to whether they have it or not.

While calling on relevant authorities not to lose sight of other health challenges as they continue in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, she lamented that at the onset and peak months of the COVID-19 pandemic, health services for diabetes were particularly disrupted.

“Far too many people are in the dark as to whether they have diabetes. People with this chronic condition suffer a double blow if they are also infected with COVID-19.

We must turn this around by investing in early detection, prevention and treatment of diabetes.

‘’At the onset and the peak months of the COVID-19 pandemic, health services for diabetes were particularly disrupted. Only about a third of reporting countries in a WHO survey of 41 countries in sub-Saharan Africa indicated that services were fully functional.

“We must not lose sight of other health challenges as we combat COVID-19.

World Diabetes Day is a key moment to call attention to this chronic illness, which is increasingly threatening the lives of Africans,” Dr Moeti said.

Dr Moeti  further disclosed that the WHO is working with countries to train more nurses and other health workers and to expand access to diabetes prevention and care services through the WHO Package of Essential Noncommunicable Disease Interventions for Primary Health Care in Low-Resource Settings.

She added that twenty-five countries have adopted the package and are working to decentralize and improve early diabetes detection and patient care.

Diabetes is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower limb amputation, but with early diagnosis and treatment, many of the harmful effects of the disease can be delayed or avoided.

The disease occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin [type 1 diabetes] or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces [type 2 diabetes]. The more common is type 2 diabetes.

Over the past three decades, the occurrence of type 2 diabetes has risen dramatically in all countries around the world.

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The African Region has experienced a six-fold increase, from 4 million cases in 1980 to 25 million in 2014. With around 60% of people living with diabetes undiagnosed, the African region has the highest proportion of people unaware of their status.

A study in Kenya found that 60% of people diagnosed with the chronic condition were not on medication.