Sunday 20 May 2012

Prevention is Better than Cure

Diabetes is a cost intensive disease because of its chronic condition, severe complications and the means of control.

In many families, financial constraints force people to choose between health care, food or clothing. Therefore prevention seems to be a very important factor, especially in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) as the increase is mainly due to lifestyle changes that have resulted in overweight, obese and physically inactive people.

Environmental changes and genetic predisposition increase insulin resistance, which, along with β- cell failure results in rising blood glucose levels.

Prevention can be carried out through health promotions, early detection of high risk individuals and timely intervention to prevent these high risk individuals from progressing to diabetes. Prevention programs are important at various stages in the natural history of the disease.

1. Primordial prevention focuses on health promotion activities such as – preventing smoking, fighting obesity, promoting physical activity and improving dietary habits.

2. Primary prevention focuses on effective screening to detect people at risk of diabetes, pre-diabetes and also their treatment.

3. Secondary prevention focuses on preventing complications of diabetes with appropriate and comprehensive treatment of diabetes and screening for complications.

4. Tertiary prevention focuses on rehabilitation of people with diabetes.


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