The rapid increase in diabetes, particularly affecting women, is a cause for concern, says Deputy Health Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla.
“When looking at gender-specific causes of death, diabetes mellitus is the leading underlying cause of female deaths at 8.2% which increased from 7.7% in 2018. The rate at which diabetes is growing in our country is concerning,” he said on Monday.
Phaahla was speaking during a roundtable discussion on the Healthy Life Trajectories Initiative (HeLTI), a collaboration between national research funding agencies in Canada, China, India, South Africa and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
He took the time to outline government’s plans to address the burden of the emerging non-communicable diseases (NCDs) pandemic, otherwise known as lifestyle diseases.
Diabetes was the second leading underlying cause of death in 2020, accounting for 6.6% of all deaths. COVID-19, first detected that year, became the leading cause of death.
“Non-communicable diseases not only reduce life expectancy but also have a profound economic impact, straining both individuals and our healthcare system.
“We must recognise the gravity of this burden which is deeply interconnected with factors such as unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, alcohol abuse, smoking and social and commercial determinants of health,” he told delegates.
The Deputy Minister told the attendees that the department’s primary focus is prevention and it has implemented campaigns aimed at promoting healthier lifestyles.
In addition, he said early detection of NCDs is key to effective management.
The department has rolled out community-based screening campaigns through community health workers (CHWs) and traditional health practitioners (THPs) targeting the early detection of hypertension and diabetes.
“Our focus is not limited to the detection of diseases but also includes education on risk factors and lifestyle modifications that can prevent the progression of these conditions.”
According to the Deputy Minister, the department recently entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with parkrun South Africa to encourage communities to walk, jog or run on weekends.
However, at the heart of the NCDs response is strengthening the country’s primary healthcare (PHC) services.
“PHC facilities across the country are being equipped to manage and monitor patients with chronic conditions effectively. The department is working to ensure that treatment for NCDs is both accessible and affordable.”
He mentioned regulatory interventions such as the tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, implemented to reduce premature death from NCDs.
There are also regulations relating to trans-fats in foodstuffs which prohibit the sale, manufacture and importation of oils and fats, including continuous phase emulsions, either alone or as part of processed foods.
There are regulations concerning food for infants and young children, as well as the reduction of sodium in certain food items to help lower salt intake to less than 5g per day.
“Excessive salt intake is associated with hypertension which is the second leading cause of death in South Africa and hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases.”
Phaahla believes the battle against lifestyle diseases is far from over. However, with the right interventions and a collective effort from all sectors of society, he is of the view that it can reduce the burden in the country.
“The findings of Statistics South Africa survey that deaths due to major non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and chronic lower respiratory diseases in South Africa increased over 20 years, should be a concern for all of us.” – SAnews.gov.za
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Sugar Hiccup
The Man who could only Drink Milk
I know an old man who had lived a life full of adventure, but his health started to catch up with him. He\’d run the Boston Marathon, was an avid surfer, and climbed Everest, but he\’d started to have abdominal pains around his 85th birthday and went to see a doctor. Sadly, he ultimately was diagnosed with a rare degenerative liver disease that slowly made him allergic to everything he ate.
He kept copious notes, and as an avid gastronomist slowly grew to despair as everything he\’d spent his life enjoying became something he could no longer eat. Alcohol went first, then mushrooms, then bread, then root vegetables, then coffee, one at a time he had to remove them from his diet. The doctor was clear: if he kept eating something his liver rejected the autoimmune response would be quick and severe, and would lead to a painful death. Little by little, everything was taken away as an option, until the only thing that remained was milk.
In some ways, this actually made life easier, because the mental strain of remembering what he could and couldn\’t eat was gone, but then so was the joy in variety. But he took it in stride, and got his own cow and took classes from a farmer to learn everything he could about the only thing that could give him sustenance. And even within milk, he could still have yogurt, butter, cream, some cheeses, and other milk-derived products he hadn\’t fully rejected yet, so it wasn\’t all bad. But then one day a few months later he felt the pain again, and he knew cow\’s milk was no longer an option.
Lacking other options, he tried goat\’s milk, and he was delighted that it worked! The protein structure is just different enough that his body still tolerated it. That bought him another month. And that\’s when we came up with a wonderful plan to go on one last grand adventure around the world. If he could get one month of life out of the milk of every mammal, he\’d actually have a few more years to enjoy life to the fullest and see the world in all its beauty. Each month, we\’d pick a place with a new mammal, and he would immerse himself fully with the locals, learn all the ways to prepare the milk, and just enjoy the hand he had been dealt as much as he could.
We milked sheep in New Zealand. Camels in Egypt. Zebras in South Africa. Giant bats in Indonesia. Do you know how many Peruvian cuy you need to milk to get a single glass? I do. Even as his health slowly faded, he stayed cheerful, and I felt lucky to join him on the adventure of a lifetime. That brings us to today when he got to the very end of his spreadsheet, and declared that he was now allergic to every mammal. He\’d enjoyed his journey, but his time had come to an end, for there was nothing left to milk.
To which I said nonsense, I bet we can milk a few thousand karma out of this post.
Thrasher
These days, the pizza arrives before the police.