Prevalence of type-2 diabetes is on the increase in the Maldives whose main “meal” is fish containing a lot of omega-3 fatty acids providing protection against many of the non-communicable diseases (NCDs), says a leading diabetes educator of the island nation.
Experts attribute this to “globalisation” that has made changes in their dietary preferences and lifestyle at a rapid pace.
Now 22.7% of its 344,023 population are smokers, and women rarely get into the sunlight to absorb Vitamin D.
“The difference in lifestyle came very suddenly,” said Dr Ali Siyan of Maldivian Diabetes Association, making a presentation at the two-day annual international diabetes convention hosted by P Kesava Dev Trust that concluded here yesterday.
“They used to go out physically to the sea and were exposed to a lot of sunlight, sweating out on a daily basis. And then the changes hit them. Not only the pace of their life changed, but their food has turned instant and urban.”
Smoking also brings the HDL levels down offsetting the benefits of eating a lot of fish and they increasingly go for sugary carbonated drinks. It worsens diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol and heart diseases.
“With the help of International Diabetes Association, we trained diabetes educators since 2013 and deployed them in all the 188 inhabited islands of the archipelago consisting 1,192 small islands,” he said.
“We had built a curriculum with experts from the IDA to train them. The results were very positive. They have already met 227,124 (of the 344,023) people so far.”
Though the nation has 188 inhabited islands, the capital of Male is crammed with some 200,000 people. Reaching out to the remote islands is the real challenge for them.
All these islands have small health centres, but there are only two tertiary care hospitals in this top tourist destination, forcing people to outsource complicated surgical procedures to hospitals in the Kerala capital.
Some 1,000 delegates attended the convention where 200 experts from India and abroad shared their experiences and findings, at different venues at a time, organised by Jothydev’s Professional Education Forum. Lawmaker Dr Shashi Tharoor inaugurated the event, presided over by Dr Jothydev Kesavadev. International Diabetes Federation (IDF) president Dr Shaukat M Sadikot, Thiruvananthapuram Medical College principal Dr Thomas Mathew and Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences head Dr MI Sahadulla spoke at the inaugural function.