Layan Damanhouri
Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH — The Drug Metabolism Unit at King Fahd Medical Research Center (KFMRC) recently hosted a diabetes awareness campaign at King Abdulaziz University (KAU) that offered visitors to meet with consultants, diabetes researchers and a nutrition specialist.
The objectives were to raise awareness, assist people with diabetes and promote diabetes research.
Dr. Saeed Ahmad, assistant professor at KFMRC, said there was an exhibition as well as workshops about healthy diet and lifestyle choices led by diabetes consultants and representatives from the Saudi Diabetes Society.
The event also featured presentations by consultants, free screenings to test for glucose levels, body mass index, body fat percentage and blood pressure.
Professor Zoheir Damanhouri, head of the Drug Metabolism Unit at KFMRC, said the event was a good opportunity for people to ask questions and gain direct information about diabetes, sleep and nutrition.
Dr. Hala Mosli, endocrinology and metabolism consultant and assistant professor at King Abdulaziz University, gave a lecture on living with diabetes and lifestyle management, followed by an open forum.
She told Saudi Gazette: “I talked about what people should expect when diagnosed with diabetes. This means how to change one’s diet and organize their daily routines around mealtimes. “This also means how to use medication at home and what to expect from visits to the doctor.”
According to recent Ministry of Health statistics, one in three people in the Kingdom have diabetes or pre-diabetes (at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes), while 50.4 percent of adults over the age of 65 are diagnosed with it.
Mosli said: “These statistics are more realistic because they were based on door-to-door surveys rather than studies conducted in hospitals. In addition, a lot of people were not aware they had diabetes.”
Seventeen percent of males and 15.5 percent of females are pre-diabetic, she said.
The results from the Saudi Health Information Survey reveal diabetes is linked to obesity and hypertension. Forty-four percent of diabetics were found to be obese and 51 percent had high blood pressure.
