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Guiding Young People with Diabetes into Adult Care: #ISPAD2023

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,    I was fortunate to attend the  International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD), ISPAD 49th Annual Conference.  The motto of the meeting was “Pediatric diabetes in a rapidly changing world".  While researc h and technology in diabetes develop at astounding speed, the world experiences new problems, conflicts, wars, and economic uncertainties.  Especially at such times, working together as ISPAD, securing the best care for children and youth with diabetes remains even more important. Thus, find below my key take-home message from the workshop I attended, entitled  ‘Mind the Gap: Guiding Young People with Diabetes into Adult Care’. Dr. med. Heiko Bratke shared how they helped children transitioning to adulthood at a camp, in Norway. They had individual dose adjustments, group learning sessions, preparing food together (counting carbs and treating acute hypos), and a lot more other things that a young person should manage to become a grownup. Further, the diab

World Diabetes Day: Commemoration at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals

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Group photo On the 23rd of November 2023, we had a special World Diabetes Day commemoration. Under the directive of the diabetes clinic at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals (PGH), we had an extraordinary workshop, in the presence of over 30 participants with support from brilliant speakers from PGH, Sally Mugabe Children’s Hospitals, and our international friends working in the field of diabetes, despite the short notice. Firstly, we had an overview of diabetes mellitus from our own Endocrinologist, Dr. Prisca Mureriwa-Matyanga. She asked the audience to participate, in order to build a rapport and in the process, getting the depth of how much they understood about their chronic condition. Dr. Prisca delved into the subject matter exquisitely, she spoke about how to begin to understand and or deal with diabetes in an effective way, goals for managing diabetes, ways to achieve such goals, and lastly, she shared the importance of exercise to people with diabetes. It is no secret that peopl

Launch of Sinocare Diabetes Devices in Zimbabwe

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The group of people that attended the launch of Sinocare's Launch Diabetes imposes a substantial economic burden on countries, health systems, people with diabetes, and their families, as suggested by International Diabetes Federation, 2021. World Health Organization postulated that, globally, an estimated 537 million adults aged 20–79 years are currently living with diabetes (representing 10.5% of the world’s population in this age group as of 2021). It was awe-inspiring to witness, Sinocare launching some of its most awaited products in the Zimbabwean market. As a person living with diabetes, together with other Zimbabwean Leading Laboratory corporations and renowned diabetes organizations as part of the audience, with a greater understanding of how glucose monitoring is key for the achievement of glycemic targets, extremely commend Re-Med Pvt Ltd for partnering with Sinocare, in the hope to bring in the advent of new technology (that is evolving rapidly in both accuracy and af

Fostering Resilience in Type 1 Diabetes Management

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  Group photo “It is no fun getting diabetes, but you must be able to have fun even if you have diabetes”, Professor Johnny Ludvigsson . Under the directive Dr. David Leboho (President – Midlands Diabetes Interest Group); Mr. Ngoni Muzondo (Project Coordinator – Midlands Diabetes Interest Group); Joyline Chipo Chihota; Ruth Hlongwane; Annastacia Makundo (team SolidarMed); and myself. We hosted a Diabetes camp for children/adolescents and their parents/guardians. This initiative was conducted, under the theme: “Fostering Resilience for Type 1 Diabetes Management”. We believe in working in teams, hence the camp was brought up by the Midlands Diabetes Interest Group , in collaboration with Zimbabwe Diabetes Association , at Mkoba Teacher’s College and The Village Escape, in Gweru. A huge thanks to team SolidarMed for the amazing donation of insulin for every insulin user, that attended the camp (at least every child/adolescent walked away with 2-4 vials/pensets of insulin). Diabetes is e

Chronicles of the Avoidable

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Diabetes has been recognized for a number of years as a serious, sometimes fatal condition. However, today, diabetes is thought to be rampant, described by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) argued as one of the “epidemics of our time” (CDC 2019). It should be stated that diabetes is delicate, with some ideal conditions that should be met regardless, otherwise, complications are inevitable. This is a story of a young adult, XYZ , who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2015. He has had to fend for himself in the less remote areas of Zimbabwe, but always got aid from his sister, with regards to insulin drugs and syringes. Now, XYZ got amputated his foot due to a severe foot ulcer. Some authors argued that the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes in children is usually straightforward and requires little or no specialized testing, (most children present with a several-week history of polyuria, polydipsia, polyphagia, and weight loss, with hyperglycemia, glycosuria, ketonemia, and ketonu

Diabetes Screening 1st Edition @Kariba

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Diabetes is a highly prevalent health condition in the aging population. An estimated number of 537 million adults aged 20–79 years are currently living with diabetes and an estimated number of 240 million people are living with undiagnosed diabetes worldwide , meaning almost one-in-two adults with diabetes are unaware they have the condition, as was suggested by the 10 th edition, IDF Atlas 2021. Worse off, the African Region has the highest proportion of undiagnosed diabetes at 53.6%, as compared to the other six Regions of the International Diabetes Federation, and the number of people with diabetes in the IDF Africa Region is expected to increase by 129% by 2045, the highest predicted increase of all regions. It should be noted that diabetes management in older adults requires regular assessment of medical, psychological, functional, and social domains. Furthermore, older adults with diabetes have higher rates of premature death, functional disability, accelerated muscle loss, and

Addressing Unique Health care needs of Women with Diabetes by Technology #ATTD2022

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What an honor to be awarded a full scholarship to attend one of the extraordinary conferences in the world by the  #dedoc° (an international network of diabetes advocates) and because of this program since 2020, I have been able to attend ISPAD and  ATTD. since the time I joined, the core principle is an always has been #PyItForward and the entire network has that responsibility. Therefore, kindly accept my humble 2nd takehome message (summary from one of the sessions i thought could benefit everyone). Glycemic Control and Health Complications of T1D & T2D: Women vs. Men Type 1 diabetes affects both men and women; Type 2 diabetes prevalence could be region-specific; Females have higher rates of T2D in youth, and men have a higher prevalence in midlife (roughly there are 200million women living with diabetes in the world) NB. Diabetes is the world’s eighth leading cause of death among both sexes and the fifth leading cause of death among women.  Are Diabetes Outcomes Gender Neutral