Diabetes, a looming national disaster

Seeing James Sianga coaching football players ahead of a crucial match is riveting. He moves fast and swiftly, wins the ball from an opponent and dribbles it before shooting it straight into the net.

Such moves from a 60-year-old man, especially one suffering from diabetes, are rare.

Sianga is one of the longest serving Kenyan international goalkeepers, although at some point he disappeared from the limelight after being diagnosed with diabetes.

The revelation of his diabetic status seven years ago came on the field, where his life revolved.

"I was in Tanzania coaching my team when I started sweating non-stop," Sianga recalls, adding that: "Seeing my distress, the team doctor asked me if I was okay and I answered that I was alright."

However, the team doctor insisted that Sianga takes a test to find out why he was sweating profusely. After a bit of counselling, the medic broke the bad news that he had diabetes.

"Prior to the diagnosis, I was worried and tense because I didn’t know what was happening to me, until I was informed that I had diabetes," he says.

At first, the former Tanzanian Simba Coach was in denial that he was suffering from diabetes.

He had attributed its cause to poor eating habits but the medics also told him it could be due to genetics.

"My father had died of diabetes and the doctor informed me that my case could be as a result of the family history," says the father of six.

Singa was immediately put under treatment, but in 2008 he started consuming junk food. This led to him being admitted to Kenyatta National Hospital owing to a wound that developed in his toe.

Later, the toe was amputated but before long, the other one also got infected and had to be removed.

"I lost two of my toes in a period of one and half years," he explains.

This loss jolted Sianga into action and he adopted a complete lifestyle change.

Today, Sianga has accepted his diabetic status and has embraced consuming natural and organic foods such as millet, sorghum, vegetables, fruits and low sugar products.

He also spends Sh3,000 a month to control his diabetes.

After being away from the field for almost three years, Sianga is back and determined to fight diabetes.

Currently, the Government estimates that about 1.2 million Kenyans are living with diabetes.

Diabetes is a chronic condition that is characterised by high levels of blood sugar in the body. It arises due to a problem in the mechanisms that the body uses to synthesise and use sugar.

Sugar is the form of fuel that the body uses to generate energy to perform activities in the muscles and other organs.

The head of the division of Non Communicable Diseases (NCD) in the Public Health Ministry, Dr William Maina, says this numbers are projected to rise unless serious steps are taken to prevent its occurrence.

"Unless significant efforts are made to stem the rise in diabetes, health care services across the country will soon be crippled by the costs of treating the diseases and its complications," warns Dr Maina.

Unfortunately, for many years, diabetes has been grouped under NCD and thus has not attracted much attention.

However, last year the country launched the first diabetic strategy to combat the disease, which is currently threatening to turn into a national disaster.

In an interview with World Diabetes Federation, Dr Maina was quoted saying that there exists a big challenge in the availability of drugs for diabetes.

Priscilla Njambi 39, is diabetic and echoes Dr Maina’s sentiments, saying that when she goes to public health facilities for her regular check-ups, there are no drugs.

"I have to buy insulin from a chemist, which is often overpriced," says Njambi.

A walk around town revealed that the monthly management of diabetes costs between Sh600 and Sh5,000. The costs vary with the level of disease and if it is diabetes Type One or Two.

There have been efforts to negotiate prices with the industry to bring down the cost of drugs for diabetes.

In the last three years, the price of a vial of insulin sold to the Government has gone down by 30 per cent.

In July this year, a circular was issued to all public hospitals instructing them to lower the price of insulin to not more than Sh200.

Civil societies championing diabetes awareness have also expressed the need for increased policy support to diabetes and further subsidy for diagnostic and treatment costs.

Dr Maina sensitises individuals that they can experience different warning signs of diabetes, although sometimes, they may not be so obvious.

The medic says the onset of Type One diabetes is usually sudden and dramatic while the symptoms can often be mild or absent in people with Type Two, making it hard to detect.

As of now, diabetes Type One cannot be prevented although research is ongoing on the environmental triggers that are thought to generate the process that results in the destruction of the body’s insulin-producing cells.

However, Type Two diabetes can be prevented by maintaining a healthy weight and being physically active.

The Government is recommending that all people at high risk of developing Type Two diabetes be identified through opportunistic self-screening.

This will help restore the health of an individual.

Untreated diabetes leads to failure of body organs, resulting in life threatening complications such blindness, kidney failure, heart failure, stroke, limb amputation and impotence in men.

Diabetic wonder foods

In order to properly manage diabetes, there is need for a complete lifestyle change.

Nutritionists recommend some special foods and vegetables that can help your body system control diabetes in order to avoid other health complications.

Among the best fruits recommended are apples and pomegranates.

Diabetics are advised not to consume any white foods. However, an exception is apples, which can help reduce the body’s need for insulin courtesy of their pectin property, which help the body to detoxify.

Another diabetic wonder food is cinnamon, which gives fat cells new life, helping them respond to insulin and get rid of the glucose in the blood.

Garlic helps keep diabetes under control by lowering blood sugar levels.

Carbohydrates are not good for diabetics but oatmeal (and not the sweetened type) is rich in fibre and digests slowly, keeping blood sugar levels stable. Science has also shown that this effect persists.

Vegetables such as green beans, spinach and broccoli all contain lots of fibre and are low in carbohydrates, which makes them healthy.

A little protein in the diet of a diabetic that is between 12 to 20 per cent is important.

But it is important to select lean proteins such as poultry, nuts, lentils, fish and soy. These are the best sources of protein for your diet.

Finally, you cannot observe a good diet if you don’t exercise. Engaging in physical exercise helps improve your body’s performance in fighting disease.