Youth have been urged to live a healthy lifestyle to prevent diabetes and other non-communicable diseases.

The message was delivered during an anti-diabetes campaign, on Thursday, targeting the youth ahead of the World Diabetes Day, which is being marked today.

The day will be marked under the theme, "Live a healthier life and avoid diabetes.”

The Rwanda Pharmaceutical Students’ Association in collaboration with the University of Rwanda and the Rwanda Diabetes Association organised the campaign.

Jeanine Condo, the principal of the university’s College of Medicine and Health Sciences, called on the public and the Ministry of Health to carry out more awareness campaigns to sensitises the public of the disease.

Condo cautioned the public, especially the youth, on living a sedentary lifestyle. She also commended the students on their efforts in increasing the diabetes awareness.

"We are now getting into non communicable diseases and in the public arena, non-communicable diseases are taking the lead due to the nutrition transition that came from developed countries to our country. The students are doing a good job on sensitising more on the dangers of physical inactivity, and unhealthy diet,” she said.

Similar awareness activities took place in other colleges in Huye, Nyarugenge, Nyagatare, Busogo, Remera and Integrated polytechnic Regional Centre Kicukiro Campus ( IPRC).

Participants were sensitised on causes, prevention and treatment of diabetes.

Gaining from Tour de Rwanda

Dr Aimee Muhimpundu, the head of non-communicable diseases at Rwanda Biomedical Centre, said the World Diabetes Day will be marked alongside the Tour de Rwanda.

"At every stop point of Tour de Rwanda, we will be holding sensitisation campaigns, testing for diabetes and providing counselling services,” Muhimpu told Saturday Times.

She urged Rwandans to engage in routine physical exercise in the simplest possible way to fight lifestyle diseases such as diabetes.

"People need to do a bit of exercises like walking to avoid most of these lifestyle diseases that come when the body is less active,” she said.

Crispin Gishoma, the president of Rwanda Diabetes Association, said diabetes being expensive to control needed intensive counseling especially with the youth, because the future depends on them.

"Diabetes is expensive [to treat] and has very negative effects on life. The average diabetic person in Rwanda spends Rwf70,000 per month on treatment alone. It is a disease which is multi disciplinary and multi sectoral and needs a lot of collaboration between the patient and family,” he said.

The campaign involved different activities, including blood glucose screening, blood pressure, body mass index and counseling that were carried out by 12 student volunteers from Rwanda Pharmaceutical Students’ Association.

It targeted 3,000 students from every campus.

Geofrey Beingana, the president of the Rwanda Pharmaceutical Students’ Association, said there were 300,000 cases of diabetes registered in the country so far.

He called for a nationwide campaign to sensitise the public especially the youth on the new cases of diabetes to help in its prevention.

"Our goal is to discover new cases of diabetes because 70 per cent of the diabetic cases are not yet known. We had a campaign at the Huye campus only, but the findings compelled us to make a nationwide campaign to create more awareness among the youth about diabetes,” he said.