Children with diabetes in Bangladesh

There is a wrong notion that only overweight people become diabetic patients. The reality cannot be further from the truth, as people of all ages and weights can become diabetic. It does not matter whether it’s a newborn baby or a 50-year middle-aged person, one can catch this disease at any point in their life. Without proper treatment, it slowly damages our vital organs.

Abdullah Al Mamun, 30, is a friend of the writer. He realised he has diabetes about five years back. In the beginning, he became very depressed and won’t consult with a physician. He was not looking out for his physical health. Then a few months down the line, his family motivated him to look after his health.

Now five years later, he lives a happy life, married with kids. He regularly takes his medications and exercises. The purpose of sharing this story is that finding out you have diabetes does not mean this is the end of one’s life. Regular medical checkups, consistent intake of medication and exercise can ensure a healthy life.

Nevertheless, we can see the lack of awareness among the youth regarding this disease. Due to their young age, they feel invincible and do not believe that they might have diabetes.

Several factors can trigger diabetes. Some of them are being overweight, having high blood pressure, elevated levels of triglycerides and low levels of good cholesterol (HDL), living a sedentary lifestyle, having the disease hereditary. Besides these increasing age, polycystic ovary syndrome, impaired glucose tolerance also can cause one to become diabetic.

Social stigmas are something that a diabetic patient has to deal with regularly. The person suffering from the disease and his/her family have to decide to be open about it or remain quiet on the matter.  When it comes to marriages, relationships and even going abroad, such information is regarded as sensitive. That is why many youths try to hide it.

It will be a lie if we do not accept the reality, and the harsh reality is the moment people find someone has a disease, let it be diabetics, one can see a change in people’s behaviours towards that person. Lack of information and awareness works like wildfire here.

For a family, it is hard to accept that a young member of their family has diabetes. That is why we see many parents entering a denial mode and forcefully try to trick their minds that there is nothing wrong with their children.

Interestingly enough, we manage time for so many things but when it comes to doing exercise, we tend to find excuses and constantly find ways to avoid it. If we have time to study, use smartphones to browse the internet or order fast food online,then we must have the time to walk for 15 minutes on a regular basis. Different studies on the internet indicate that obesity is a major contributing factor for having diabetes. Of course, it can be hereditary. Again, with proper lifestyle changes the risk of having the disease can be greatly reduced.   

Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation for Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders, better known as BIRDEM, located at Segun Bagicha, for women and children has a dedicated section for juvenile diabetic patients. Diabetic patients from all over the country get referred to BIRDEM. Such medical institutions with proper facilities are important as today we can see many children and youths suffering from diabetes.

According to Dr Bedowra Zabeen, paediatric endocrinologist consultant, CDIC, BIRDEM 2, “In Bangladesh, we have this tendency to give more importance to grownup diabetic patients. Nonetheless, children or juvenile diabetic patients deserve the same kind of attention and medical care. Today we are finding more Type 2 diabetes patients than ever before. Only a few years ago we would find a few cases of Type 2 diabetes among children or adults. Now alarmingly that percentage has gone up to 20 per cent.

“There is no proper survey about juvenile diabetics and that concerning from a public healthcare point of view. However, we estimate that in Bangladesh 1 per cent or 10,000 of the total diabetic population is children diabetic patients. Although there is no particular survey on the number of diabetic patients in our country, experts on the field believe there is more than 1 core diabetic patient at the moment and by next year that figure is going to be somewhere near 1 crore 20 lakhs.”

So what can we do in order to avoid our children from Type 2 diabetes? Well, we just have to make sure our children follow a healthy diet, exercise and most importantly remain fit. The chances of becoming a diabetic become very high if his/her parents have diabetes. Keeping that in mind parents should find ways to motivate their children into following healthier diets and more importantly encourage them to take part in sports.

If one wants to understand what Type 1 diabetes is, one has to understand that when the body is no longer producing the amount of insulin it needs or simply cannot produce any insulin at all. On the other hand, Type 2 diabetes is when the body is producing insulin however the body is not able to put it to work. Now Type 1 diabetes is not preventable but it can surely be kept under control. On the other hand, Type 2 diabetes is very much preventable. It is because we have some clear data on what is causing Type 2 diabetes. Obesity, having a poor choice of diet, and lack of exercise are some of the main contributors to Type 2 diabetes.

Today some of our local pharmaceutical companies are manufacturing insulin. Here consumers, manufacturers and governments all parties are benefited. The consumer is getting assurance about the quality of the product they are buying. The government can collect tax and the manufacturers can expand their business.  

In the recent past, there were serious allegations of some traders marketing inferior quality insulin to make the most of their profit. To make sure such kinds of atrocious criminal offences do not occur in the future there should be monitoring of the insulin market regularly.  

Every year we read in the newspapers and watch on the television World Diabetes Day being observed with due seriousness. We read articles written on it, however, with all due respect this writer did not read or see the topic of children with diabetes being discussed or finding its place in many articles, or the television news.

The parents, guardians, doctors and the authorities concerned should find a more innovative way to spread awareness among the masses about children with diabetes.   

Tips to Identify Diabetes in Children

Is the child thirsty all the time? Is he or she urinating frequently? Is he or she losing weight drastically? These are the basic changes one should look out for. Normally doctors do not come across diabetic children who are less than six months old. Such cases are extremely rare and can be found one in a million.

The writer is an Editorial Assistant at The Business Post