ShareKUWAIT: The prevalence of diabetes in Kuwait is amongst the highest in the world, and the country's government and non-government organizations have been confronting the non-communicable disease and its risk factors at all fronts.
On the frontline of this war, stands the Dasman Diabetes Institute as a main defender of Kuwaitis' health against the disease which represents an enormous challenge to Kuwait's health system.
The DDI encompasses a multi-disciplinary team of national and international professionals who combine their knowledge and experience to provide quality diabetes care, Director-General of the Dasman Diabetes Institute (DDI) Dr. Qais Al-Duwairi told KUNA.
He pointed out that the DDI's research department aimed to explore the mechanisms of the diabetes and its complications to help provide practical solutions for the prevention and treatment of this disease, he argued. He emphasized that the DDI researchers were also keen on translating the findings of their studies into clinical practices to improve the health conditions of the patients.
Al-Duwairi stated that the DDI has been prioritizing researches focusing on upgrading healthcare services offered to diabetic people. The DDI has entered into strategic partnerships with the Kuwait University and Kuwait's Ministry of Health as well as a slew of international healthcare and educational institutions such as the US-based Harvard University and Georgetown University, he said.
He added that the DDI researches tackle everything related to diabetes before and after the disease diagnosing. The researches cover a wide array of topics including clinical diabetology, immunology, biochemistry, molecular biology and pediatrics, he said.
He unveiled that the DDI teams are working on 61 diverse researches and studies that were approved by the Ethical Review Committee.
Four of those researches touches upon knowledge-based awareness, lifestyle, breastfeeding and food role in prevention and reducing the incidence of diabetes, he said.
Al-Duwairi noted that some 20 clinical experiments were carried out in in the DDI since 2010. These experiments have boosted the DDI status as one of the main diabetes research centers in the world, he said. For her part, DDI Researcher Dr. Maisa Mahmoud Kamkar disclosed that the findings of 13 the DDI researches would be announced this year. She explained that the researches take long time because of the high DDI standards and procedures such as idea approval, samples taking and clinical work, waiting for the results, a review to the results.
She noted that the DDI role is to help prevent, control and mitigate the impact of diabetes and related conditions in Kuwait through effective programs of research, training, education, and health promotion and thereby improve quality of life in the population. "Despite the progress achieved in the past years, more researches and efforts are still needed to improve the diabetes diagnoses, treatment, prevention, medicine and patients lifestyle," Al-Duwairi told KUNA.
Al-Duwairi stated that a research carried out by the Kuwait Scotland eHealth Innovation Network has shown a remarkable rise in prevalence of diabetes among children and adolescents (under 14 years old) by 1.7 folds in the past five years.
The DDI marks this month the 10th anniversary of its inauguration by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. The Institute was founded by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) to be in charge of studies related to diabetes. The Kuwait adult population has the sixth highest prevalence of diabetes in the world, affecting approximately 24 percent of the population. A number of potential causes for the rising trends in diabetes have been identified, including genetic predisposition, westernized diet, lack of physical activity and limited recreational facilities.
Kuwait also has one of the highest levels of obesity in the world. It is estimated that threequarters of the adult population are overweight or obese with the latter accounting for between 30 and 50 percent of the population.
These problems are not restricted to the adult population. The prevalence of diabetes in children and young adults is rising, estimated to be around 33 per 100,000. Kuwait also has a high prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents. As the number of cases of diabetes and obesity continues to rise these patients place an ever increasing burden on the healthcare system.-KUNA
By Shahad Kamal
