Nigeria and other African countries should be concerned over the prediction by the World Health Organization (WHO) that the number of people living with diabetes in the African region is likely to be more than double by 2045 if urgent measures are not taken to halt the worrisome diabetes cases. During this year’s World Diabetes Day (WDD), WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Rebecca Moeti, disclosed that more than 24 million adults in the region are currently living with diabetes, with half of them undiagnosed. She was also quoted to have said that without urgent interventions, this figure may rise to 54 million by 2045.
Moeti also lamented that the rising prevalence of diabetes in Africa is further complicated by multiple drivers, which include urbanization, unhealthy diets and sedentary lifestyle. Good enough, the theme of this year’s WDD, “Breaking Barriers, Bridging Gaps” underscores WHO’s commitment to reduce risk and ensure that everyone diagnosed with diabetes have access to affordable and quality treatment and care.
According to Moeti, if diabetes is left untreated, it can lead to complications like heart disease, stroke, nerve damage, kidney failure, lower-limb amputation, as well as eye disease that can lead to blindness. In Nigeria, it has been estimated that about five million Nigerians may suffer from diabetes by 2030. This stems from a recent review by the International Diabetes Foundation (IDF) which revealed that as at 2021, over 3.5 million people were diabetic with 53 per cent undiagnosed.
At the National Conference on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSB) Tax in Abuja, the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammed Ali Pate, expressed worry that the cost of treating diabetes had increased from an average of N60,000 per person in 2011 to N800,000 in 2021. The cost in diabetes treatment has been projected to exceed N1million by 2030. As a non-communicable disease, diabetes is a chronic, metabolic disease characterized by elevated levels of blood glucose or blood sugar, which over time, leads to serious damage to the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys and nerves.
As explained by the minister, the SSB tax is aimed to reduce the consumption of unhealthy beverages and help to prevent obesity and its related diseases. He also pointed out that the SSB tax is a strategy to improve public health and healthcare financing. Medical experts have linked sugary drinks to numerous health risks such as obesity, heart disease, weight gain, type-2 diabetes, kidney diseases, non-alcoholic liver disease, tooth decay, cavities and gout. However, a new survey shows that the national prevalence of diabetes has increased to 5.7 per cent, which represents about six to eight million Nigerians. Some studies show a prevalence rate as high as 10.7 per cent in some regions.
The diabetes challenge in Africa is compounded by inadequate funding and low investment in diabetes care worldwide. For instance, the Africa region invests only a paltry 1% of its health expenditure in diabetes. According to Moeti, health systems in Africa are traditionally designed to deal with acute, infectious diseases without sufficient attention paid to chronic diseases like diabetes.
We lament the rising cases of diabetes in Nigeria and other African countries and decry the poor funding of diabetes treatment and care. We particularly call on Nigerian government and indeed other African countries to increase their investments in diabetes care. Since the cost of treatment of diabetes is rising astronomically due to the dwindling value of the naira and inflation, we urge the government to subsidize the cost of treatment for those with diabetes. The government should organize free diabetes testing as many Nigerians who have the disease don’t actually know.
Let the government sensitize the public against indulging in SSB which can lead to obesity, heart disease, weight gain and type-2 diabetes. Since sedentary lifestyle can lead to diabetes, we urge Nigerians to be physically active and modify their lifestyle. The federal, state and local governments must begin to treat diabetes as the number one national health challenge of urgent importance considering the number of Nigerians that will have the disease if urgent interventions are not implemented.
Beyond the SSB tax, the government should have an open conversation with the manufacturers of these SSB in a bid to reduce the sugar content of their products. While there is the need to increase the government’s tax revenue base, every problem, including excessive sugar in beverages, should not be solved only through taxation. Manufacturers of food and beverages must ensure that they conform to global best practices and ensure that their products are healthy and fit for consumption. They don’t need taxation to do so.