Higher prevalence rates of diabetes, unfortunately, majority of those individuals that have the disease do not know, while for women it is a bit lower ranging between 15-25%,” said Dr. Sam Biraro, a clinical epidemiologist from Uganda Virus Research Institute in Entebbe.
Dr. Sam Biraro noted however that majority of people (90%) have raised blood pressure but are not aware.
The revelations come as the international community marks November 14 World Diabates day.
Without giving concrete reasons for the changing trends, the researcher noted that these Non-Communicable Diseases are no longer restricted to the urban and rich people as figure show that these lifestyle diseases are becoming common in rural people.
Speaking at the sideline of the 25th Anniversary of the Medical Research Council and the Uganda Virus Research Institute in Entebbe, Biraro told The Sunrise that studies are still being conducted to understand the factors contributing to the growing prevalence of NCD cases especially in the different categories.
“Many of these Non-communicable diseases were common in urban areas but similar cases are now registered in the rural areas. So researchers have to find out the possible causes of hypertension and diabetes among the lean that may be regarded as poor people. These (non-communicable diseases) are no longer diseases of well to do people in our society,” added Biraro.
Unfortunately however, experts warn that Uganda health system is ill-prepared to manage the growing disease burden, forcing scientists to advocate for increased interest among individuals to find out their own status regarding conditions such as high blood pressure and diabates.
The experts warn that the increasing disease burden will subsequently have serious economic implications. No only are these diseases very costly to treat, the country does not have enoug facilities such as drugs, specialists and equipment to manage them.
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