According to Dr Yacoba Atiase, Head of the Diabetes Centre at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, diabetes has reached epidemic levels in Ghana and should be managed as such. Speaking at the launch of affordable access to diabetes care, Dr Atiase said that from being a rare disease 50 years ago, diabetes was now everywhere in the country. Half of the patients on admission at hospitals are diagnosed with diabetes, even though they were admitted for different ailments.
The diabetes expert called for aggressive public education on the disease, similar to the COVID-19 pandemic education in 2020, so that everybody would know about the disease and how to manage it. Dr Atiase described diabetes as an epidemic or even a pandemic, affecting not only adults but also children and the aged. She emphasized that there is work to be done and healthcare workers must receive more education to know what to do for patients with the disease, and patients must have access to comprehensive care and medication.
Quoting statistics, Dr Atiase revealed that in the 1950s, Ghana had less than one per cent of its population living with diabetes, but now between eight and nine per cent of Ghanaians are diabetic. Globally, in 2000, 150 million people lived with diabetes, and by 2017, the figure had risen to 425 million people. In Ghana, 50 per cent of people living with diabetes do not even know they have the disease, and Dr Atiase believes that the percentage may be higher in Ghana.
In response to this epidemic, the Ministry of Health has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Sanofi, a French multinational pharmaceutical and healthcare company. The MoU will enable healthcare authorities to purchase affordable high-quality Sanofi analogue insulin products and deploy diabetes management solutions in four Ghanaian diabetes centres, benefiting 500 healthcare professionals who will receive targeted medical training. In addition, Sanofi will co-develop a digital solution to help physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and community healthcare workers better support over 5,000 people living with diabetes in Ghana.
In conclusion, Dr Atiase and the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, called for prioritizing the prevention, early detection, and management of diabetes in Ghana to reduce the morbidity and mortality of the disease. The Health Minister described the MoU with Sanofi as a timely intervention necessary to enhance diabetes management in the country, ensuring equitable, comprehensive, affordable, and quality care for better outcomes.