After disclosing the status of diabetes in Jammu region a few days ago, now ICMR-INDIAB study has come up with the data of Kashmir and Ladakh regions, which is equally alarming as a large percentage of population is either in the grip of diabetes or is about to fall in this category.
Reportedly, the overall burden of the diabetes in Jammu region was 18.9 per cent, with 26.5 per cent in urban areas and 14.5 per cent in rural areas which is higher than the national average making it necessary for the population here to take all possible measures to keep this ‘killer’ ailment at bay as far as possible.
Now, with the data of Kashmir becoming public, the situation in the region also seems to be startling as 8 out of every hundred residents are diabetics and 10 pre-diabetic, which is an alarming sign requiring comprehensive strategy to alleviate this problem being faced by the people due to their faulty lifestyle and wrong food habits as both these factors made things worse as far as diabetes spread is concerned. This is not enough because reportedly 30 out of every 100 residents are living with hypertension in this part of the UT.
All said and done, 7.8 per cent of the population in Kashmir has diabetes. This number jumps dramatically in urban areas, where 13.1 percent of the population is affected, compared to 5.6 percent in rural regions.
Prediabetes, which signals a heightened risk of developing diabetes, affects 10.5 percent of the population, with urban areas showing a higher prevalence (15.1 percent) than rural ones (8.6 percent). With these startling figures one can gauge the seriousness of the issue as diabetes, which is popularly known as ‘Sugar’ among the masses is slowly and steadily achieving the status of an endemic, thus making it necessary to come up with a comprehensive strategy to stop this from spreading at the current pace because this disease can have adverse effects on the ailing persons as more serious illnesses follow this disease if proper care is not taken.
Although there is a need to start the treatment of diabetes as soon as the disease is diagnosed, what is more important is the awareness about adopting a lifestyle which prevents this disease and many others as a sedentary lifestyle is one of the reasons for people becoming diabetic. The best solution to spread awareness is introducing diabetes and other lifestyle diseases in the science curriculum of schools because these institutions can play a vital role in educating the population against this disease and many others.
As time is running like a ticking bomb, it becomes necessary that the government should take steps to stop people from becoming diabetics and also provide its affordable treatment at government healthcare facilities as medicines for this disease have lately become costly.
