Staff Writer

August 2, 2023 – As diabetes continues to be an ongoing issue globally, the British Virgin Islands Ministry of Health and Social Development is on the move to standardize the care and treatment of people with the non- communicable disease with the launching of guidelines for the management of the disease.

Introduced by the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the guidelines are designed to make sure that diabetic people receive the same standard of care despite the healthcare facility they seek. This is according to Ronald Georges, Chief Medical Officer.

He emphasized that the guidelines will enhance the results as well as the lives diabetic people.

“At the Territory level, this will improve outcomes for patients, reduce complications and improve their quality of life while reducing costs and improving health care,” he said.

“We are very excited for the possibilities of this programme,” he later added.

The Ministry will not just stop at launching the guidelines. Georges highlighted that to fortify the guidelines, they will have ceaseless education in the form of Continuing Medical Education, and this will address standardized assessment, care, and treatment for diabetic people.

“We want these guidelines to be seamlessly implemented within our healthcare system.  To do this, our focus will be on offering continuous education sessions, building collaborations with the Diabetes Association and clinicians as well as empowering patients to be more proactive and vested in their own care,” he informed.

The vision going forward, as expressed by Georges, is to reach a point where clinical audits are conducted to ensure that the guidelines are being put into practice and more education and training is being provided where needed to guarantee sustainability.

The Launch of the CARPHA Guidelines for the Management of Diabetes in Primary Care in the Caribbean will take place on Thursday, July 20th at 5:30 p.m. and the venue will be the Dr. D. Orlando Smith Hospital.

According to CARPHA, “in the Americas, diabetes was recorded as the fourth leading cause of death and disability in 2019. According to the IDF Diabetes Atlas, North America and the Caribbean are ranked 4th in the world, with an age-adjusted comparative diabetes prevalence in adults 20-79 years of age of 11.1%. Projected prevalence in 2030 and 2045 are 12.3% and 13.0%, respectively.”

Additionally, CARPHA described the disease as the “leading silent but most preventable killer in the Caribbean,” and considering this, the soon to be launched guidelines will be a driving force in lowering the death rate of diabetics as well as contributing to the reduction of its prevalence throughout the British Virgin Islands. This can potentially encourage more countries in the region and globally to take further action against the disease.

Staff Writer

November 18, 2022 – Of all the children in the Caribbean and North America at least 193,000 are diabetic according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and as World Diabetes Day which falls on November 14th every year is celebrated, access to diabetes education is the focus of the 2022 campaign.

The US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) says diabetes is a chronic health condition that affects how your body turns food into energy.  When there isn’t enough insulin or cells stop responding to insulin, too much blood sugar stays in your bloodstream.

The IDF says at least 537 million people globally have diabetes that means one in every 10 people.  Based on the IDF Diabetes Atlas North America and the Caribbean has the second highest prevalence of Diabetes for all global regions at 14 per cent  or 51 million people and that number is projected to increase by 24 per cent to 63 million by 2045.

It’s not just the large countries that are affected, Mexico, Jamaica, much of the Leeward Islands, Guyana and Suriname all have populations with a significant percentage of diabetics, over 10 percent in most cases.  The countries with the most affected people are United States (32.2m); Mexico (14.1m); Canada (3m); Haiti (548,700) and Jamaica (231 000).

But the countries where diabetes is most prevalent even though they have smaller populations are Mexico; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Belize; Barbados; and Bermuda.

The statistics on children are also extreme with almost 200,000 minors affected.

Not only does the region have a significant level of diabetes in the population, we pay more than any other region in the world to treat the disease.  The region spends 415 billion in diabetes expenses 43 per cent of the global total.

In order to lower this bill and keep populations healthier there are several things individuals can do. Unfortunately Type one diabetes is not preventable, it’s thought to be an auto immune response where the body attacks its own cells by accident.

Fortunately this type is less prevalent than Type Two diabetes which is preventable.  In it your body doesn’t use insulin well and can’t keep blood sugar at normal levels it develops over many years.  A healthy diet, exercise and losing weight are the usual prescriptions in combating Type 2 diabetes.