The promotion of healthy live styles along with the proper education to child patients and their families have made it possible to lower the death rate on account of diabetes to 0 percent in pediatric ages in the Cuban central province of Sancti Spiritus for the last ten years.

According to endocrinologist Doctor Julieta Santana Marquez, the early medical care granted to these children is aimed to diminish the complications associated with this disease, the eighth cause of death in Cuba nowadays.

Physical exercises and surveillance have been decisive in the achievement of high survival rates, added the expert, who also stressed the fact that there has been no need for amputations.

Half a thousand children in this province are treated with multi-dosis of insuline, one of the most advanced treatments in the world. Moreover, The Cuban Ministry of Health provides children aged under 7 with free-of-charge glucometers, devices that cost nearly 200 dollars in capitalist countries.

The late identification and treatment of diabetes mellitus can increase the risk of other diseases like cardiovascular disorders, blindness, hepatic damage and nervous system problems which may lead to foot ulcers and even amputation.

Diabetes mellitus is caused by an alteration of the carbohydrate metabolism, which is characterized by high sugar levels in the blood and sometimes in the urine. The World Health Organization is foretelling an increment of 300 million patients by the year 2025.

Due to the continuous increase of the disease, important campaigns are being carried out since 1991 to alert diabetics, health care providers, sanitary institutions and people in general on the possible consequences of the disease and the need for proper treatments.

Source: By Arelys García Costa, Escambray