The Ministry of Health is advising the nation to make healthy lifestyle choices and to know their blood glucose, blood pressure and BMI numbers to stem the prevalence of diabetes, when observances for World Diabetes Day were held yesterday.
In a press release, the ministry said the focus for the period 2009-2013 is diabetes education and prevention and this year’s theme is ‘Act on diabetes. Now.’ Five key messages have been developed to inform the outposts and deliverables of this year’s campaign including the fact that diabetes kills one person every eight seconds amounting to a total of four million people per year; persons from all age ranges and economic status can be affected and that lifesaving care is a right, not a privilege. The release also advocates that the nation chooses healthy lifestyles by demanding healthy foods and environments, choosing a low salt, low fat diet and keeping active.
This year, Guyana has added other key messages to its programme for tackling the condition: it advises persons not to
