LAHORE: Denmark will join hands with the Punjab government in the initiatives to create awareness about diabetes and its cure.

A decision to the effect was taken during a meeting of Commercial Consul of Royal Danish Embassy Ali Mushtaq Butt and Commercial Adviser Aslam Pervez with Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid here on Wednesday.

The minister informed the Danish diplomats that diabetes, being a silent killer and dangerous disorder, has been affecting 16.98 per cent adult population of Pakistan.

Quoting a recent survey, she said as many as 35.3 million adult Pakistanis had been suffering from diabetes which was very alarming.

Denmark had been successfully running diabetes awareness programme in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, she said while welcoming the Danish offer to cooperate with the Punjab government in this regard.

Dr Yasmin was of the view that school students should be engaged in healthy activities so that they could be prevented from diabetes in future.

“Fighting with diabetes is not so difficult, with the help of will power and proper medical consultancy one can get rid of intensity of diabetes. Unfortunately, unhealthy lifestyle is the major reason of falling prey to diabetes after inheriting it,” said the minister.

Commercial Consul of Danish Embassy Ali Mushtaq Butt said a special informative brochure would be provided for distribution among people visiting public hospitals in Punjab. Leadership forums would also be conducted at various levels with the help of experts, said Mr Butt.

It may be recalled that a recent scientific survey revealed alarming figures with 50 per cent of country’s population found to be obese – a major cause of diabetes.

The survey was conducted on 18,856 subjects in all parts of the country according to required medical standards and the guidelines, set by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Body Mass Index (BMI) for global population and South Asia.

Presented during the fifth annual mid-summer endocrine symposium held here in May under the auspices of Pakistan Endocrine Society (PES), the survey findings called for action against obesity, for it leaves country’s half of population vulnerable to diabetes.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2018