CHENNAI: Three-fourth of all cases of diabetes in women are preventable and there should be an increased focus on preventing the disease as opposed to only treating it, said speakers at a symposium organised by Diabetes in Women Worldwide Awareness Advocacy Action Strategy (DIWWAAAS) on Saturday. Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi said she strongly believes that the best way to avert a disease is through prevention. “We should detect, prevent, control and treat diabetes early. We need to ensure that we deal with it at the right stage,” she said.
Diabetes is not an isolated health crisis like an injury and it must be treated as a public health crisis, said Girija Vaidyanathan, a former Chief Secretary. “Active prevention of diabetes should happen from the womb to the tomb, through the entire life cycle,” she said.
Women with diabetes are at a higher risk of developing great diseases, fracture, injury and depression and therefore every woman should take advocacy of diabetes prevention very seriously, said Usha Sriram, founder of DIWWAAAS. She said 10-20 per cent of pregnant women in India are affected by gestational diabetes. “Through this symposium, we want to create a ripple effect, in which every participant becomes a change agent and carries the advocacy forward,” she said.