Marchers raise awareness on diabetes |13 November 2017

Diabetes, especially when left undetected or untreated, can be extremely serious and cause numerous complications such as cardiovascular problems.

For this reason the Diabetic Society of Seychelles organised a walk on Saturday to raise awareness on this disease.

The march was also one of the group’s main activities to commemorate the World Diabetes Day which will be observed tomorrow.

Despite the threat of heavy downpours members of the diabetic society and the Seychelles Lions Club, accompanied by the Minister for Health, Jean-Paul Adam, began their early morning march at the Stad Popiler car park and ended their journey at the National Sports Council (NSC) at Roche Caiman.

Regular exercise, becoming more cautious of what we consume, making sure we take our prescriptions diligently and adopting a healthier lifestyle in general were some of the messages the marchers wanted to pass on.

All of the above are ways the country can successfully combat diabetes which Dr Murthy Pillay, the society’s chairman, said keeps increasing at an alarming rate.

“A study conducted in 2013 showed that around 6000 people had diabetes,” Dr Murthy explained.

He added that the most worrying factor is that most people are unaware they have diabetes.

To that end the march concluded with a diabetes screening test for the public at the National Arts Council (NAC).