Diabetes can be prevented
- Written by Lourdes Pichs Rodríguez
- Published in Opinion
- Hits: 4163
Diabetes Mellitus (DM), chronic metabolic disease, is estimated to affect about 422 million people worldwide, a figure that could double in the next two decades.
Known as the silent killer, DM kills one person every eight seconds and 4 million every year.
Holguín province is not exempt from this health problem. More than 10 thousand patients here suffer from the disease, according to the latest data; however, that figure could increase, as many can suffer it without having been diagnosed.
DM is a set of metabolic disorders that cause damage to various organs and tissues, such as the eyes, kidneys, nerves and blood vessels and is characterized, mainly, by the increase in blood glucose levels. There are two main types of DM 1 and 2, which is the most common.
The specialists consider that in order to prevent the disease it is important to eat nutritious, fresh and healthy foods; perform exercises every day for at least 30 minutes and avoid obesity, but if in spite of everything, a person debuts with the disease, it is necessary to comply with the optional prescription of the doctor, since the medical treatments are individual, based on the characteristics of each patient.
In addition, the diet combined with physical exercises enables weight loss and makes it possible to improve the patient's condition.
In Holguín, there is a center for the Comprehensive Care of Diabetic Patients, located in the Peralta neighborhood, where Dr. Blas López Rubio, Unit Coordinator, together with a multidisciplinary team, provide assistance and teach patients how to live with this condition.
The program of comprehensive care for the diabetic patient has favored hundreds of people in the territory, which places the province among the top 10 with the best results in this line of work, aimed at raising the quality of life of the patients and avoiding amputation of lower limbs.
In Holguín there are about 400 people who can debut with diabetic foot, hence the importance of personal care of each patient and the timely diagnose of the disease.
At the request of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) since 1991, World Diabetes Day has been celebrated on November 14, taking into account the high incidence of this disease worldwide.
