Diabetes, just as other NCDs, doesn’t present with pain or any major symptoms during the initial stages.
So it silently damages the body and by the time individuals begin noticing that something is wrong or start feeling pain, it’s usually too late to reverse any associated damages
Peter Juma was diagnosed with kidney failure and hypertension in 2015. The two ailments came as a surprise to him as he had always assumed that he was healthy.
“My body was not in any pain so I felt okay. I just decided to go to the doctor so as to find a solution to my constant tiredness and swollen legs.”
“According to me, these were just minor complications and I didn’t expect anything serious.”
Unfortunately for Juma, that day turned out to be his worst nightmare. He learned that he was suffering from the two diseases on the same day he was also diagnosed with diabetes.
His story is shared by many Kenyans who suffer silently from diabetes and end up developing other devastating secondary non-communicable diseases (NCDs) linked to the condition.
It is for this reason that health experts are now urging Kenyans to embrace early screening for the disease so as to avert associated adverse effects.
Dr Nancy Ngugi, consultant endocrinologist at Kenyatta National Hospital, says most people usually come to hospitals when it is too late and nothing can be done to reverse damage emanating from those ill effects.
“There is a tendency to ignore early check-ups by assuming that the disease is for others. But you may be walking with it unknowingly.”
According to government statistics from the Kenya Stepwise Survey for NCDs risk factors, close to 90 (87.8) per cent of the country’s population has never been tested for raised blood sugar which is used to detect diabetes.
All these are individuals who could be harbouring the disease unknowingly and thus increasing their risk of secondary complications as was the case with Juma.
“Diabetes, just as other NCDs, doesn’t present with pain or any major symptoms during the initial stages. So it silently damages the body and by the time individuals begin noticing that something is wrong or start feeling pain, it’s usually too late to reverse any associated damages,” says Dr Ngugi.
This has been a leading cause of kidney failure, hypertension, leg amputation and vision loss among those with the disease.
The stakes are now much higher. New research published in ‘‘The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology’’ journal shows that diabetes and being overweight (Body Mass Index of over 25) are responsible for about six per cent of new cancer cases globally — equivalent to 792,600 cases.
This is because the two conditions cause biological changes in the body that predispose people to the cancers.
They include high insulin, high sugar levels, chronic inflammation and unregulated sex hormones such as oestrogen that exert adverse effects on the body.
Major cancers linked to the twin conditions are liver and endometrial cancer. Growing evidence also shows that diabetes alone is linked to bladder, kidney, oesophageal and myeloma cancers.
“As the prevalence of these cancer risk factors increases, clinical and public health efforts should focus on identifying preventive and screening measures for populations and for individual patients,” said Dr Jonathan Pearson-Stuttard, lead author of the study from the Imperial College London.
According to Dr Joseph Kibachio, head of the NCD control unit at the Ministry of Health, early screening for diabetes ensures that the disease is diagnosed at an early stage which makes its management or treatment easier and less costly.
“We are able to walk the journey together with the patient early enough to effectively deal with the condition and lower the risk of secondary complications,” he says.
Unlike normal people, those with diabetes are prone to weight gain, which adversely affects the effective management of the disease. Doctors usually recommend less starchy food and immense physical exercises which can address the problem.
The low-calorie diet also helps to prevent high glucose or sugar levels in the body, which are difficult to manage or control among those living with the condition.
Researchers have also been looking into developing newer therapies to address these challenges.
For instance, Scientists at Novo Nordisk recently developed a new drug (Liraglutide) primed at aiding weight loss among diabetes patients worldwide whilst preventing organ failure associated with the disease.
A recent study published in the ‘‘Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism’’ journal found that a third (30 per cent) of diabetes patient abstained from a commonly used type ‘2’ diabetes drugs due to its side effects.
Dr Eric Njenga, diabetologist at Aga Khan University Hospital, says due to high poverty levels, most Kenyans with the condition cannot afford insulin and other drugs needed.
“Doctors appointment costs and routine procedures - such as charges for kidney function tests - are also way out of reach for most people. So we need to find ways of lowering healthcare costs,” he says.
