Diabetes, also referred to as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic diseases in which the person has high blood glucose (blood sugar), either because insulin production is inadequate, or because the body’s cells do not respond properly to insulin or both, according to experts.

Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas by the islets of langerhans that regulates the amount of glucose in the blood which is stored to be used for energy.

Dr Crispin Gishoma, the director of Rwanda Diabetes Association, says people with this disease are identified by signs that include frequent urination, increased thirst, unexplained weight loss/gain, blurred vision, excessive fatigue and slow healing for example wounds.

According to medics, when there is no insulin production in the body, a person is likely to suffer from type 1 diabetes, whereas when the pancreas is not producing enough insulin for proper function, a person is likely to suffer from type 2 diabetes.

In rare cases, it is said that there is another type of diabetes called gestational diabetes which affects pregnant women in cases where insulin is less effective in their bodies.

Dr Simon Pierre Niyosenga, the director of diabetes, renal, pulmonary and other metabolic diseases at Rwanda Biomedical Centre, says that about 10 per cent of people with diabetes are found to suffer from type 1diabetes, which affects people below 40, especially children and adolescents. Niyosenga says about 90 per cent of all cases of diabetes worldwide are said to suffer from type 2 diabetes, most especially in the old age.

Diagnosed through a blood test called blood glucose test, diabetes can also be tested using a urine test so as to know one’s level of sugars in the urine.

Niyosenga also says factors like drug use, alcoholism, overweight, unhealthy eating, lack of exercises and family history, which unfortunately are rampant habits in most of our societies, are the number one accelerators of diabetes, especially type 2.

Rwanda Biomedical Centre through the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders have been on various campaigns to curb these factors through creating awareness on radios, televisions and seminars, encouraging people to go test for diabetes since out of two adults, one person is unaware of being a carrier of this disease.

Management

Experts advise that if one is diagnosed with this disease, they should always have insulin injections. For type 2, however, one may not only need to depend on insulin injections for the rest of their lives but also oral drugs like metformine and glibendamide for them to survive depending on their sugar levels.

Gishoma says that diabetic people should stay away from risk factors such as smoking, drug abuse, follow a healthy eating plan, do adequate exercise, test their blood glucose regularly and take insulin for them to survive.

"We may not prevent one from lacking insulin since this is a natural hazard caused by the body, but factors that may accentuate the condition, such as unhealthy eating habits, should be avoided,” says Gishoma.

He also says that the risk of cardiovascular disease is much higher for a diabetic person, adding that there are other complications likely to be faced in case of poor management of blood sugar levels, which include loss of vision, kidney disease and neuropathy.

Diabetes is an incurable disease and the largest global health emergency killing at least one person every 6 seconds daily worldwide, making it 5 million per year, according to Internation Diabetes Federation - Daibetes Atlas Seventh Edition, 2015.