Abuja — The rate at which diabetes disease is spreading in Nigeria is alarming. With few facilities to fight or contain it, this is causing medical havoc across the country and is a matter of serious concern. Though there are no reliable statistics, it is estimated that at least over 5 million Nigerians are afflicted with the ailment and the number is rising.

This astronomical rise of the disorder as a result of the amount of sugar (glucose) in the circulating blood is certainly too high. Diabetes develops either because one of the body's vital organs, the pancreas, is not producing enough of the hormone insulin to break down the glucose or because the insulin produced is not working properly. It may be hereditary and the individual's life style can put one at greater risk of developing the condition.

The rise of diabetes cases is occasioned by our changing and sedentary life-styles especially in urban areas where there are hardly places for sporting activities and public parks for recreation. Even school children in both primary and secondary schools no longer have spaces for games and other physical exercises to improve their mental and physical fitness especially in private schools, thereby reducing the risk of diabetes or mitigating its effects. These results in children in the urban areas mostly stay indoors playing video games and watching television instead of exercising themselves.

Similarly, the prevalence of junk, sugary and other fast-food restaurants contributes in no small measure in the escalation of the ailment. Unlike in the rural areas where natural foods are available and the peasant farmers walk long distances, in the urban areas, either because of cultural factors where the affluent men and women in the community cannot freely walk to exercise themselves, for instance for fear of exposure to kidnapping or other hazard, there are rampant cases of obesity that easily lead to diabetes.

Because there is as of now no known cure yet for diabetes, we call on the government to intensify public awareness about the causes of the ailment and the necessary preventive measures the public should take. And as for those already diagnosed to be diabetic, they should be enlightened on how the condition can be properly managed and at the same time live a perfectly normal life. We also call on the authorities not to grant any approval for the setting up any private school that does not have space for games and other exercises for the children.

Moreover, we call on the federal government to establish a National Diabetes Centre in Abuja for the research and treatment of the disease, hypertension and other heart disorders. Considering the alarming rate of the spread of the ailment, it is necessary that such a centre is established with the aim of stemming the alarming spread of diabetes, and educating those diagnosed with it on ways to manage the condition. Moreover, we urge the government to take special interest in the several claims by herbalists and traditional medicine practitioners for the treatment of the condition. All these claims should be investigated and verified with the hope that a cure for this ailment can be found one day.

Above all, the Federal Ministry of Health and its counterparts in the states and Federal Capital Territory should mount enlightenment campaigns about the risk factors associated with diabetes. Public health institutions should display easy to understand instructional materials in accessible areas as a means of disseminating information about such risk factors, the treatment of the disease, etc. The authorities should be proactive in tackling this disease head-on before it develops into a national emergency.