Diabetes is the fastest growing health crises of our time, affecting more people than the top four cancers combined. Every year, November 14 is observed as World Diabetes Day, spreading awareness about a condition which affects 415 million people globally.
This year North West London marked the day at a packed event at the Brent Civic Centre, Wembley, with a keynote speech from Keith Vaz MP, the Chair of APPG for Diabetes, who has Type 2 diabetes and has changed his lifestyle to better manage his condition.
Diabetes is a condition where a person’s blood sugar (glucose) becomes too high. If not managed well, both Type 1 which is less common (10% of the diabetes population) and Type 2 diabetes (90%) lead to serious complications.
Type 1 is an auto-immune condition where the pancreas stops producing the hormone insulin. Insulin controls the amount of sugar in the blood.
Type 2 diabetes is where the pancreas doesn't produce enough insulin or the body's cells don't react to insulin. Family health history, lifestyle and genetics play a strong role in developing Type 2 diabetes. 60% of the Type 2 diabetes population in the world is Asian. If you are Asian, even if you have a normal weight, but an “apple-shaped body” (with excess fat around the waist) your Type 2 diabetes risk is higher. Waist circumference should be less than or equal to 90 cm (35.5 in) for men and 80 cm (31.5 in) for women.
The theme for WDD 2017 was “Women and Diabetes”. Pregnant woman can get gestational diabetes (high blood sugar that develops during pregnancy and usually disappears after giving birth.) If they don’t change their lifestyle they have a strong risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. To prevent this, the event encouraged better control of diabetes before a woman gets pregnant and Brent Diabetes Consultant, Dr Daniel Darko, described the excellent pregnancy results locally. He works with the 62 GP practices supporting 26,000 people living with diabetes. Brent diabetes services are delivered by diabetes specialist nurses, doctors, psychologists, podiatrists and dieticians in hospital, community, GP practices and people’s homes, in one joined up service.
Brent is performing much better than the neighbouring areas in encouraging people with diabetes to attend courses to self-manage their diabetes, including courses for young people living with diabetes. It is also focusing on the three national treatment targets of blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure as well some excellent work in diabetes services for children.
In 2018, Brent will implement the National Diabetes Prevention programme, which will identify those at high risk of Type 2 diabetes and by encouraging positive diet and lifestyle changes to prevent it.
Additionally, they are monitoring Vitamin D levels, particularly in vegetarians and those from Asian communities. Therefore, investing in diabetes care will reduce the diabetes complications (heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure, blindness and amputations) bringing health and economic benefits for the whole society.
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Brent Council’s Chair of Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee
and a Parliamentary Ambassador for Diabetes (APPG for Diabetes)
