The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Children falling prey to diabetes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 14, 2007
ePaper

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Children falling prey to diabetes

Sahana Charan

Bangalore: “She would get epileptic attacks if her blood sugar levels shot up and we did not know what to do,” says Saraswathamma, a domestic worker, about her daughter Shalini.

The misery of children like 14-year-old Shalini is manifold. Not only is her family battling with poverty but she has been coping with Type 1 diabetes (insulin-dependent diabetes) from the time she was five years old. It does not help that the teenager is also deaf and dumb.

Campaign

This year, World Diabetes Day (November 14) focuses on diabetes in children and adolescents. Moreover, the campaign to prevent diabetes takes on new meaning this year with the United Nations General Assembly designating World Diabetes Day as a United Nations Day, to be observed from this year onwards.

More than 240 million people worldwide are living with diabetes. In 20 years, this number is expected to grow to 380 million. Children are not spared from this debilitating and life-threatening disease. According to the International Diabetes Federation,

Increasing rate

Type 1 diabetes is growing at the rate of 3 per cent a year in children and adolescents, and at an alarming 5 per cent per a year among pre-school children. It is estimated that 70,000 children under 15 develop Type 1 diabetes each year (almost 200 children a day).

Of the estimated 4,40,000 cases of Type 1 diabetes in children worldwide, more than a quarter live in South East Asia.

Type 2 diabetes, which was noticed only in adults earlier, is now growing at alarming rates in children and adolescents.

Subsidised treatment

“Families of children with diabetes spend around Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 10,000 on medicines a year, apart from consultation fees to check their eyesight, kidneys and feet. For the poor, it is a great burden.

What is even worse is that many children with diabetes are never diagnosed and die before help can reach them,” said Geeta Kamath, counsellor and CEO of the Samatvam Asha Medical Centre.

The Samatvam Asha Medical Centre provides free or subsidised treatment to poor patients, like Shalini, who cannot afford medicines.

Timely counselling

But the message is to be disciplined, highly motivated and to lead a normal day-to-day life, says Geeta Kamath. “I have seen that most children learn to cope with the disease,” she said. Since they have to monitor their glucose levels, take medication, exercise and eat a balanced diet, they learn to be responsible and are more disciplined than other children.

Parents, if they receive proper counselling, also learn to treat them in a normal way and allow them to achieve their goals and dreams,” said Geeta.

Efforts should be made to educate the family, the school and the peer group about a child’s condition, she added.

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