KARACHI, May 13: Despite the fact that incidence rate of juvenile diabetes (diabetes Type-1) is very low among local children, lack of awareness and misconceptions about the condition has turned it to be a trauma for affected children and concerned parents.
The condition, found to be no more than 0.7 of every 1000 children in the country, holds a stigma making quality existence extremely difficult for the kids inflicted with the disease.
Diabetes among children is often and wrongly enumerated, along with long list of contagious diseases, including tuberculosis, resulting in unnecessary isolation of the child.
The very revelation of the child being diabetic and that his/her dependency on insulin may be life-long is often found to add to the misery of many of the guardians.
Ironically, unnecessary delay in timely and proper medical intervention is found to expose many of the child patients to difficult conditions, including mortality.
Parents could be held responsible for the situation as they, owing to rampant misconception about the ailment, largely fail to accept that diabetes is not infectious and that it may have occurred even to their child.
Many of the concerned parents are yet to realise that adopting an adequate methodology, under guidance of well- trained doctors, may provide quality life to their offspring.
Ironically they often prefer to approach a quack or shaman.
Paediatricians, with reference to long-term management of the Diabetes Type 1 strongly suggest that child patients must be allowed normal physical activity, more ideally an hour long exercise each day and discouraged long duration of sleep.
This should be along with adequate emphasis on normal emotional and psychological health of the child as well as the family. Moreover, proper and regular schooling must also be considered part of the long-term management of Diabetes Type-One.
The diet and nutrition for such children should be as broad as possible, with particular care to avoid sugar and refined carbohydrates. Major emphasis must also be on high fibre and low fat diet, which must again not be made distinctive to food taken by other members of the family.
The fact that non-availability of insulin at largely affordable rates is again a major dilemma for a large majority of locals cannot also be overlooked.—APP
