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Over 24 million people are living with diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa, Dr Gloria Ani-Asamoah, a Family Physician, Korle-Bu Polyclinic, and Merck Foundation alumni, has disclosed. Dr Ani-Asamoah, speaking at a day’s training workshop for journalists, said out of the 24 million, type 2 diabetes (caused by insufficient production of insulin or the inability of the body to use insulin effectively) accounts for 90 percent of the cases in the region. The workshop was organised by the Merck Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, in collaboration with the Ghana Journalists Association and in partnership with First Lady Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, who is an ambassador for the “Merck Foundation Than a Mother Campaign.

” She said that even though the disease was causing a lot of health challenges, most people living with it were not aware of their conditions. According to the fact sheet on diabetes from the Integrated African Health Observatory and the World Health Organisation (WHO-African Region), Africa tops the world with more than 54 percent of people living with diabetes in the region undiagnosed, predicting that those with the disease would increase by 129 percent to 55 million by the year 2045. Dr Ani-Asamoah said the disease and other non-communicable diseases were gradually taking over the disease burden in Africa, and therefore there was a need to pay attention to it, intensify education on it, and test for early detection and intervention before complications set in.



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