DUSHANBE, November 15, Asia-Plus  -- A scientific-practical conference dedicated to World Diabetes Day was held in Dushanbe on November 14. 

The conference, staged the Republican Diabetes Association and the Dushanbe City Endocrinology Center, brought together researchers, family doctors, as well as representatives from the ministry of health and the Dushanbe health directorate. 

According to figures provided by the Ministry of Health (MoH), 1,687 new cases of diabetes have been registered in Tajikistan over the first nine months of this year, bringing a total number of officially registered diabetics in the country to 14,856. 

Of those 14,856 registered diabetics, 1,234 are undergoing treatment with insulin and 13,622 are patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes.

The source at a MoH said that because of shortage of endocrinologists, in particular in Khatlon, Gorno Badakhshan and districts subordinate to the center (RRPs) not all diabetics in those regions had been registered.  “However, some 1,000-1,5000 new cases of the disease are registered in the country every year,” the MoH source said, pointing to the necessity of arranging a well-defined system of registration of diabetics in the country and preparing a national register of diabetics in Tajikistan.  “It will require additional funds to computerize the endocrinology centers,” he said.

The program for combating diabetes for 2006-2010 has been implemented in the country.  Besides, international organizations such as the HOPE Project have been providing invaluable assistance to Tajikistan in providing diabetes sufferers with insulin.  According to MoH, they now have enough insulin that will last patients more than two years, till January 2009. 

World Diabetes Day is marked on November 14, the theme of this year''s World Diabetes Day campaign is Diabetes in Children and Adolescents.  Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases of childhood.  It can strike children at any age, including pre-school children and even toddlers. Yet diabetes in children is often diagnosed late, when the child has diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), or it is misdiagnosed completely. In many parts of the world, insulin, the main life-saving medication that children with diabetes need to survive, is not available (or is available but remains inaccessible for reasons of economy, geography or constraints on supply). As a consequence, many children die of diabetes, particularly in low and middle-income countries. Those closest to the child - family, school staff, and family doctor - may not be aware of the ominous signs.  The World Diabetes Day 2007 and 2008 campaigns set out to challenge this and firmly establish the message that ‘no child should die of diabetes''.

Today, more than 240 million people worldwide are living with diabetes. Within 20 years, this number is expected to grow to 380 million.  Children are not spared from this global epidemic, with its debilitating and life-threatening complications.