Sahsehlo Caravan spearheads drive to keep health apace with economic developments

RIYADH — The Saudi government’s future economic development thrust as enshrined in the Vision 2030 initiative has been highly welcomed across all sectors of the society, including the health sector where various pharmaceutical companies, in their own programs of actions, manifest their commitments to achieve the goals of the initiative. Medical and other health care providers agree that health is a fundamental determinant of economic growth and development. Healthy people cannot only translate to a positive influence on the social infrastructure but also affect economic development, they said. Health is a basis for job productivity. Good health has a positive, sizable, and statistically significant effect on aggregate output, they further said. Enhanced workers’ productivity depends not just on their physical capacities – such as strength and endurance, but also by increased mental capabilities, such as cognitive functioning and reasoning ability. Under this framework, healthier workers are more productive and earn higher wages, they remarked. According to International Diabetes Federation (IDF), there were 3.4 million cases of diabetes in Saudi Arabia in 2015 as against 415 million people with diabetes in the world and more than 35.4 million people in the MENA region, noting that by 2040 this will rise to 72.1 million. For instance, diabetes specialists warn people about misleading information regarding the amount of sugar in dates, and that correct information can be obtained from dieticians who are the trusted sources. Eating dates excessively in one day for diabetics is considered one of the main reasons for hyperglycemia which can result in excessive hemoglobin count (HA1C). Diabetics were advised to be moderate in eating dates as it may have side effects on their health. The Director of National Diabetes Prevention and Control Program Dr. Fatima AlSulil disclosed that the results of the National Health Screening in Saudi Arabia shows that the rate of diabetes' spread is 13.4%, of which 14.8% are males and 11.7% are females. The rate rises with aging where 7.8% of the age group is 25-34 years old, and this makes 50.4% of the age group above 65 years old. The study also showed that the rate of pre-diabetes' spread for males is 17%, which is 1.29 million effected, and for females 15.5%, which is 1.1 million effected. According to the study, the number of diabetics in the Kingdom is 1.1 million male and 546,000 of them are taking medications for their condition. It is also noted that 275,000 of male diabetics have uncontrollable diabetes. The study also added that 775,000 of females are diabetics, 356,000 of them take medications, and 196,000 of them have uncontrollable diabetes. As the number of diabetics balloons, the National Diabetes Prevention and Control Program, in cooperation with Abbott, has launched the “Sahsehlo Caravan” initiative as part of its educational health activities aimed at enhancing the efforts of service providers for diabetics. The "Sahsehlo Diabetes” Caravan offered awareness activities in a number of cities and provinces in the Kingdom, including Al-Ahsa, Dammam, Riyadh and Madinah. The events include educational and scientific activities that are done through a number of doctors and health advocates concerned with diabetes. There is also a section that aims to provide health awareness on dealing with diabetes and diabetics and ways to prevent it through following healthy lifestyles. There are also corners for children and healthy cooking that provide health awareness information and related printouts. The caravan also aims to raise awareness in the society, to change unhealthy lifestyle, and to encourage healthy behavior to cope with diabetes. It also aims to educate about the health problems associated to diabetes and its effect on the individual and society. It also underlines the importance of following healthy lifestyles to achieve better health through healthy eating and physical activities to deal with this disease. Khalid Al Mohammad, a health care educator from Sahsehlo Caravan, noted that the bases of knowing the effect of dates on blood sugar is Glycemic Index, which shows the level of glucose in the blood directly after eating. He also revealed that random examinations the program performed resulted in detecting a number of diabetics who did not know about the disease. Sahsehlo Caravan continues to offer its awareness activities in a number of cities and provinces in the Kingdom. Sahsehlo Caravan will be in Jeddah after the Eid holidays. Empirically, high levels of population health go hand in hand with high levels of national income as higher incomes promote better health through improved nutrition, better access to safe water and sanitation, and increased ability to purchase more and better quality health care. Health may be not only a consequence, but also a cause of high income.