Yesterday, November 14, was World Diabetes Day.

This is a day set aside to raise awareness on issues affecting people living with diabetes.
The theme for this year’s campaign is “Family and Diabetes.”

The family plays a crucial role in giving support to people with diabetes and it helps in the management, care and prevention of the condition.

Diabetes is a condition in which insulin is too little or unable to push the sugar we eat into the cells, leading to high sugar levels.

Insulin is a hormone produced by our body to help push sugar from the blood stream into the cells. Insulin facilitates the entry of glucose into the cells so that it generates energy.

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) occurs when the body is not able to use insulin well and it is commonly diagnosed in adults, while Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is when the body cannot make insulin.

T1D is mainly diagnosed in children and adolescents, and without insulin, these children will quickly die.

Management of T1D requires multiple insulin injections every day with careful monitoring of sugar levels.

Most T2D patients can manage their diabetes through a combination of diet, exercise and oral medications. For a few (10-15 percent), insulin injections will also be needed.

Due to economic hardships, many patients cannot afford to buy insulin and syringes to be able to inject themselves.

Some patients are forced by circumstances to ration the insulin so that they have at least some insulin for each day, although the dosage will be wrong, with potential serious consequences.

Some patients also use one syringe and needle numerous times, often until it is blunt, instead of once.

Implications of not taking insulin
The implication of rationing and not following prescriptions are serious.

In T1D, such rationing can very quickly be life-threatening, access to insulin quite literally is an emergency for them.

Patients also risk developing complications such as kidney impairment, diabetic ulcers, strokes and heart attacks.State media