Thailand strengthening alliances in South East Asia for tobacco control

Thailand strengthening alliances in South East Asia for tobacco control
Jittima Jantanamalaka

Thailand had relatively strong tobacco control policies for years but for effective implementation, it was vital to seek cooperation and strengthen tobacco control initiatives in other countries in the South-East Asia (SEA).

“After working with Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) foundation in Thailand for 15 years, we believed that Thailand had quite strong policy on tobacco control and we should support and strengthen the cooperation between countries in South East Asia to achieve the goal together so we had set up South-East Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA). By this way SEATCA acts as supportive base for government and non- government tobacco control workers and other health advocates in the SEA region, through regional forum, SEATCA fellowship programmes and cooperate with researcher from several universities” said Bungon Ritthiphakdee, Director of South East Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA).


Bungon further explained about how Thailand is expanding its role in forging alliances in other ASEAN countries to fight against tobacco.

“The cooperation between ASEAN countries on tobacco control helps us to see the whole picture, we can also share resources, skills, best practice, and the compare programmes between different countries” said Bungon.

“The main campaigns that SEATCA is working on at the moment are pushing forward until all ASEAN countries have pictorial warning labels on the tobacco products and also increase taxes on tobacco products. Raising taxes on tobacco helps to reduce tobacco consumption but right now only Thailand and Singapore have high taxes. We also would like to campaign for more smoke-free cities in SEA region. Many countries like Philippines, Laos, Indonesia, Vietnam and many countries already have smoke-free cities, and in Thailand, we have Mukdaharn and there is some smoke-free movement building up in Sukhothai as well” further added Bungon.

The biggest challenge in SEATCA’s work is the interference of tobacco industry in implementation of tobacco control policies in different nations in the SEA region.

“Fortunately we are now having the guidelines of World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) Article 5.3 on protection of public health policies from tobacco industry interference, which asked the government of each party to have clear policy of not allowing the tobacco’s industry’s interference” said Bungon.

The guidelines of Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC were adopted at the third conference of parties (COP 3) in Durban, South Africa (November 2008).

In response to a question on how effectively can the WHO FCTC Article 5.3 be enforced in SEA countries, Bungon responded: “there is no punishment even for the government which is not following FCTC but the biggest damage that will come to such countries will be the damage of their own nation, when their people, their youth and new generations will increasingly turn to tobacco use, and these nations will lose money in treating diseases attributed to tobacco use.”

At the recently concluded 14th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH), Thailand has been credited as one of the countries that have achieved significant success in tobacco control in Asia. The increase in tobacco taxes, the new smoke-free law that came into effect in 2008 banning smoking in public places including bars, restaurants and workplaces, and effective pictorial health warnings on tobacco products, are some of the measures that Thailand gets global recognition for. The first Bloomberg Award for Tobacco Control on effectively implementing pictorial health warning labeling on tobacco products was also conferred upon Dr Prakit Vathisathokit, Executive Secretary of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), Thailand.

The Asia and the Pacific accounts for 57% of the global cigarette consumption by region in 2007. According to World Health Organization’s MPOWER report 2008, in the 20th century, the tobacco epidemic killed 100 million people worldwide. During the 21st century, it could kill 1 billion.

SEATCA’s work is certainly critical in protecting Asians from diseases, disabilities and deaths attributed to tobacco use.

Jittima Jantanamalaka, Citizen News Service (CNS)

(The author is the Director of Jay Inspire Co. Ltd)

Tobacco Industry Interference with Tobacco Control: WHO report 2009

Tobacco Industry Interference with Tobacco Control: WHO report 2009

The tobacco industry has historically employed a multitude of tactics to shape and influence tobacco control policy, says a recently released report (Tobacco Industry Interference with Tobacco Control, 2009) of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The tobacco industry has used its economic power, lobbying and marketing machinery, and manipulation of the media to discredit scientific research and influence governments in order to propagate the sale and distribution of its deadly product, it says further.

According to this report, furthermore, the tobacco industry continues to inject large philanthropic contributions into social programs worldwide to create a positive public image under the guise of corporate social responsibility. This document describes the spectrum of tobacco industry practices that interfere with tobacco control. As an outcome of the first meeting of tobacco industry monitoring experts convened by WHO in October 2007, this report exposes these practices and provides the Contracting Parties to the global tobacco treaty - formally known as WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) - and other WHO Member States the background and contextual information that may assist in implementing the WHO FCTC Article 5.3 guidelines against tobacco industry interference with tobacco control.

On 22 November 2008, 160 countries had adopted strong guidelines of WHO FCTC Article 5.3 to block tobacco industry interference in global health policies and the implementation of the global tobacco treaty. Since it took effect in 2005, implementation of the FCTC, has been systematically obstructed by Big Tobacco. The abuses of corporations like Philip Morris International (PMI), British American Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco have ranged from attempting to write tobacco control laws, blocking the passage of smokefree legislation, and using so-called "corporate social responsibility" to circumvent ad bans. Tobacco industry interference has been the number one obstacle to the treaty's implementation, and ratifying countries now see protections against this interference as the backbone of the treaty.

The new guidelines are designed to give teeth to Article 5.3 of the treaty which states, "in setting and implementing their public health policies with respect to tobacco control, Parties shall act to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law."

The guidelines include the following recommendations, rooted in the principle that the tobacco industry has a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict with public health:
- governments should reject partnerships with the tobacco industry;
- conflicts of interest such as the "revolving door" between the tobacco industry and public health offices, government investments in the tobacco industry and tobacco industry representation on tobacco control bodies should be avoided;
- government interaction with the tobacco industry should be strictly limited and transparent;
- the tobacco industry should be required to be transparent about its activities, a measure which will help to counter interference by Big Tobacco's front groups and allied organizations.

Effective tobacco control is, almost by definition, antithetical to the economic interests of the tobacco industry, associated industries, and entities or persons working to further the tobacco industry's agenda, says the preface of this report.

Those interests depend largely on the prosperity of the tobacco industry and its means for ensuring its real or perceived commercial well-being. The primary goal of tobacco control is to prevent tobacco-caused disease and death. In the hierarchy of objectives for reaching this goal, preventing the uptake of tobacco use and assisting tobacco users in ceasing use of all forms of tobacco rank highest. Similarly, efforts designed to reduce exposure to second-hand smoke are most effective when smoking is prohibited in public areas, further reads the preface of this report.

This triumvirate of objectives—preventing uptake, maximizing cessation and prohibiting smoking in public places—stands in direct opposition to the commercial objectives of the tobacco industry, says the report.

Although the industry sometimes makes expedient public statements to the contrary, it routinely seeks to maximize uptake of tobacco use, do all that is possible to ensure that tobacco users continue to be consumers and prevent the erosion of smoking opportunities by restrictions known to reduce smoking frequency and promote cessation.

Thus, when tobacco control succeeds, the tobacco industry fails. People employed by the tobacco industry have fiduciary responsibilities to their shareholders or government owners to take all legal steps possible to maximize profits. It is therefore entirely predictable that the tobacco industry does what it can to ensure that effective tobacco control policies fail.

To download this WHO report, click here or go to: http://www.who.int/tobacco/resources/publications/tob_ind_int_cover_150/en/index.html

[Citizen News Service - CNS]

Tobacco Industry Interference with Tobacco Control: WHO report 2009

Tobacco Industry Interference with Tobacco Control: WHO report 2009

The tobacco industry has historically employed a multitude of tactics to shape and influence tobacco control policy, says a recently released report (Tobacco Industry Interference with Tobacco Control, 2009) of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The tobacco industry has used its economic power, lobbying and marketing machinery, and manipulation of the media to discredit scientific research and influence governments in order to propagate the sale and distribution of its deadly product, it says further.

According to this report, furthermore, the tobacco industry continues to inject large philanthropic contributions into social programs worldwide to create a positive public image under the guise of corporate social responsibility. This document describes the spectrum of tobacco industry practices that interfere with tobacco control. As an outcome of the first meeting of tobacco industry monitoring experts convened by WHO in October 2007, this report exposes these practices and provides the Contracting Parties to the global tobacco treaty - formally known as WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) - and other WHO Member States the background and contextual information that may assist in implementing the WHO FCTC Article 5.3 guidelines against tobacco industry interference with tobacco control.

On 22 November 2008, 160 countries had adopted strong guidelines of WHO FCTC Article 5.3 to block tobacco industry interference in global health policies and the implementation of the global tobacco treaty. Since it took effect in 2005, implementation of the FCTC, has been systematically obstructed by Big Tobacco. The abuses of corporations like Philip Morris International (PMI), British American Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco have ranged from attempting to write tobacco control laws, blocking the passage of smokefree legislation, and using so-called "corporate social responsibility" to circumvent ad bans. Tobacco industry interference has been the number one obstacle to the treaty's implementation, and ratifying countries now see protections against this interference as the backbone of the treaty.

The new guidelines are designed to give teeth to Article 5.3 of the treaty which states, "in setting and implementing their public health policies with respect to tobacco control, Parties shall act to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law."

The guidelines include the following recommendations, rooted in the principle that the tobacco industry has a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict with public health:
- governments should reject partnerships with the tobacco industry;
- conflicts of interest such as the "revolving door" between the tobacco industry and public health offices, government investments in the tobacco industry and tobacco industry representation on tobacco control bodies should be avoided;
- government interaction with the tobacco industry should be strictly limited and transparent;
- the tobacco industry should be required to be transparent about its activities, a measure which will help to counter interference by Big Tobacco's front groups and allied organizations.

Effective tobacco control is, almost by definition, antithetical to the economic interests of the tobacco industry, associated industries, and entities or persons working to further the tobacco industry's agenda, says the preface of this report.

Those interests depend largely on the prosperity of the tobacco industry and its means for ensuring its real or perceived commercial well-being. The primary goal of tobacco control is to prevent tobacco-caused disease and death. In the hierarchy of objectives for reaching this goal, preventing the uptake of tobacco use and assisting tobacco users in ceasing use of all forms of tobacco rank highest. Similarly, efforts designed to reduce exposure to second-hand smoke are most effective when smoking is prohibited in public areas, further reads the preface of this report.

This triumvirate of objectives—preventing uptake, maximizing cessation and prohibiting smoking in public places—stands in direct opposition to the commercial objectives of the tobacco industry, says the report.

Although the industry sometimes makes expedient public statements to the contrary, it routinely seeks to maximize uptake of tobacco use, do all that is possible to ensure that tobacco users continue to be consumers and prevent the erosion of smoking opportunities by restrictions known to reduce smoking frequency and promote cessation.

Thus, when tobacco control succeeds, the tobacco industry fails. People employed by the tobacco industry have fiduciary responsibilities to their shareholders or government owners to take all legal steps possible to maximize profits. It is therefore entirely predictable that the tobacco industry does what it can to ensure that effective tobacco control policies fail.

To download this WHO report, click here or go to: http://www.who.int/tobacco/resources/publications/tob_ind_int_cover_150/en/index.html

[Citizen News Service - CNS]

Countries unite against tobacco industry interference

Countries unite against tobacco industry interference

GLOBAL TOBACCO TREATY MEETING ADOPTS STRONG GUIDELINES FOR PROTECTING AGAINST INDUSTRY ABUSE

DURBAN: Today on 22 November 2008, 160 countries agreed on strong new guidelines to block tobacco industry interference in global health policies and the implementation of the global tobacco treaty.

Since it took effect in 2005, implementation of the global tobacco treaty, formally known as the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), has been systematically obstructed by Big Tobacco. The abuses of corporations like Philip Morris International (PMI), British American Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco have ranged from attempting to write tobacco control laws, blocking the passage of smokefree legislation, and using so-called "corporate social responsibility" to circumvent ad bans.

Tobacco industry interference has been the number one obstacle to the treaty's implementation, and ratifying countries now see protections against this interference as the backbone of the treaty.

"The tobacco industry has long exploited every opening to perpetuate a preventable epidemic that pads their bottom line," said Kathy Mulvey, international policy director of Corporate Accountability International. "These guidelines will help advocates and public officials begin to slam the door on tobacco industry tactics, and focus on implementing the treaty's lifesaving measures."

The new guidelines are designed to give teeth to Article 5.3 of the treaty which states, "in setting and implementing their public health policies with respect to tobacco control, Parties shall act to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law."

The guidelines include the following recommendations, rooted in the principle that the tobacco industry has a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict with public health:
- governments should reject partnerships with the tobacco industry;
- conflicts of interest such as the "revolving door" between the tobacco industry and public health offices, government investments in the tobacco industry and tobacco industry representation on tobacco control bodies should be avoided;
- government interaction with the tobacco industry should be strictly limited and transparent;
- the tobacco industry should be required to be transparent about its activities, a measure which will help to counter interference by Big Tobacco's front groups and allied organizations.

"This week a diversity of countries, facing a diversity of tobacco industry offenses, arrived on a set of universal principles to strip this industry of its ability to threaten public health," said Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT) spokesperson Bobby Ramakant. "An important precedent has been set that life-threatening corporate practices will not be tolerated."

Ratifying countries also approved strong guidelines for tobacco product packaging and banning tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, but funding to support treaty implementation remains in question.

"In sum, these meetings have been an overwhelming victory for tobacco control," said Sam Ochieng from NATT in Kenya. "But now our work begins anew in implementing this landmark treaty. Our initiatives on the ground will require increased funding and constant vigilance against an industry whose profit-driven avarice will continue to challenge our advances, though its power to do so has been greatly reduced."

Published in
Central Chronicle, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
Medical News, Australia
Market Watch
The Earth Times
Investors.com
Yahoo! Business News
International Business Times (IBT)
Ghana News, Accra, Ghana
Trading Markets.com
Examiner.com
Two Circles
Street Insider
Canada's Economic News, Canada
Union Bank of California, USA
Stock House
My News, Delhi
Kerala News, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
Silo Breaker news aggregator
Media for Freedom, Kathmandu, Nepal
News Track India, Delhi
Citizen News Service (CNS)
Bihar Times, Patna, Bihar
Tobacco-Kills
TambakooKills
Asian Tribune, Sri Lanka/ Thailand
The Seoul Times, Seoul, South Korea
News Blaze, USA
US Politics Today, USA
US Business Journal
American Chronicle, USA
Forbes
Globe Investor
Finance Boston
WLGA TV news
Bihar and Jharkhand News Service (BJNS)
Topix Business news
California Chronicle, California, USA
Sahil News, Karnataka, India
Northern News Lines, Chandigarh, India
OptionsXpress News
AOL Money and Finance News
CNBC news
UPI News
WTOP News/ Associated Press, USA
PR News Wire
Fox Business News
Banderas News, Mexico
My Wire: Market Watch
Money AOL News
Brietbart News
Global Trends
News Tin
Zimbabwe News Room, Harare, Zimbabwe
Lexdon Business News
PR Canada
Los Angeles Chronicle, Los Angeles, USA

Countries unite against tobacco industry interference

Countries unite against tobacco industry interference

GLOBAL TOBACCO TREATY MEETING ADOPTS STRONG GUIDELINES FOR PROTECTING AGAINST INDUSTRY ABUSE

DURBAN: Today on 22 November 2008, 160 countries agreed on strong new guidelines to block tobacco industry interference in global health policies and the implementation of the global tobacco treaty.

Since it took effect in 2005, implementation of the global tobacco treaty, formally known as the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), has been systematically obstructed by Big Tobacco. The abuses of corporations like Philip Morris International (PMI), British American Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco have ranged from attempting to write tobacco control laws, blocking the passage of smokefree legislation, and using so-called "corporate social responsibility" to circumvent ad bans.

Tobacco industry interference has been the number one obstacle to the treaty's implementation, and ratifying countries now see protections against this interference as the backbone of the treaty.

"The tobacco industry has long exploited every opening to perpetuate a preventable epidemic that pads their bottom line," said Kathy Mulvey, international policy director of Corporate Accountability International. "These guidelines will help advocates and public officials begin to slam the door on tobacco industry tactics, and focus on implementing the treaty's lifesaving measures."

The new guidelines are designed to give teeth to Article 5.3 of the treaty which states, "in setting and implementing their public health policies with respect to tobacco control, Parties shall act to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law."

The guidelines include the following recommendations, rooted in the principle that the tobacco industry has a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict with public health:
- governments should reject partnerships with the tobacco industry;
- conflicts of interest such as the "revolving door" between the tobacco industry and public health offices, government investments in the tobacco industry and tobacco industry representation on tobacco control bodies should be avoided;
- government interaction with the tobacco industry should be strictly limited and transparent;
- the tobacco industry should be required to be transparent about its activities, a measure which will help to counter interference by Big Tobacco's front groups and allied organizations.

"This week a diversity of countries, facing a diversity of tobacco industry offenses, arrived on a set of universal principles to strip this industry of its ability to threaten public health," said Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT) spokesperson Bobby Ramakant. "An important precedent has been set that life-threatening corporate practices will not be tolerated."

Ratifying countries also approved strong guidelines for tobacco product packaging and banning tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, but funding to support treaty implementation remains in question.

"In sum, these meetings have been an overwhelming victory for tobacco control," said Sam Ochieng from NATT in Kenya. "But now our work begins anew in implementing this landmark treaty. Our initiatives on the ground will require increased funding and constant vigilance against an industry whose profit-driven avarice will continue to challenge our advances, though its power to do so has been greatly reduced."

Published in
Central Chronicle, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
Medical News, Australia
Market Watch
The Earth Times
Investors.com
Yahoo! Business News
International Business Times (IBT)
Ghana News, Accra, Ghana
Trading Markets.com
Examiner.com
Two Circles
Street Insider
Canada's Economic News, Canada
Union Bank of California, USA
Stock House
My News, Delhi
Kerala News, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
Silo Breaker news aggregator
Media for Freedom, Kathmandu, Nepal
News Track India, Delhi
Citizen News Service (CNS)
Bihar Times, Patna, Bihar
Tobacco-Kills
TambakooKills
Asian Tribune, Sri Lanka/ Thailand
The Seoul Times, Seoul, South Korea
News Blaze, USA
US Politics Today, USA
US Business Journal
American Chronicle, USA
Forbes
Globe Investor
Finance Boston
WLGA TV news
Bihar and Jharkhand News Service (BJNS)
Topix Business news
California Chronicle, California, USA
Sahil News, Karnataka, India
Northern News Lines, Chandigarh, India
OptionsXpress News
AOL Money and Finance News
CNBC news
UPI News
WTOP News/ Associated Press, USA
PR News Wire
Fox Business News
Banderas News, Mexico
My Wire: Market Watch
Money AOL News
Brietbart News
Global Trends
News Tin
Zimbabwe News Room, Harare, Zimbabwe
Lexdon Business News
PR Canada
Los Angeles Chronicle, Los Angeles, USA

Care for children and adolescents living with diabetes

Care for children and adolescents living with diabetes



"Diabetes is a deadly disease, and each year, almost 4 million people die from diabetes-related causes. Children, particularly in countries where there is limited access to diabetes care and supplies, die young", according to International Diabetes Federation (IDF) which is an umbrella organization of over 200 member associations in more than 160 countries. IDF leads World Diabetes Day (www.worlddiabetesday.org) which falls on 14th November. The campaign is focusing its efforts on raising awareness of diabetes in children and adolescents.



Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases to affect children. Every day more than 200 children are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, requiring them to take multiple daily insulin shots and monitor the glucose levels in their blood. It is increasing at a rate of 3% each year among children and rising even faster in pre-school children at a rate of 5% per year. Currently, over 500,000 children under the age of 15 live with diabetes, according to IDF.



Since diabetes often requires life-long monitoring, care and treatment, is hospital-based approach better than home-based care approaches or a mix of these two approaches for effectively responding to care needs of those with diabetes?



Dr Sonia Kakar, a New Delhi based doctor, said: "hospital-based approach should be for the management of acute and/or chronic complications arising out of diabetes. But as 99% of diabetes care is self-care, empowering people with right information can make home-based care approach more feasible and economical."



She also felt that, "adolescents often have the motor and cognitive skills to perform all diabetes-related tasks and determine insulin doses based on blood glucose levels and food intake. Thus, they must be supervised in their diabetes tasks and allowed gradual independence with the understanding that the independence will be continued only if they adhere to the diabetes regimen and succeed in maintaining reasonable metabolic control."



"During mid-adolescence, the family and healthcare team should stress upon the teenagers the importance of checking blood glucose levels prior to driving a car to avoid hypoglycemia while driving" stressed Dr Kakar.



Managing diabetes in children and adolescents becomes more effective when the entire family gets involved. Families should be encouraged to share their concerns with physicians, diabetes educators, dietitians, and other healthcare providers to get help in the day-to-day management of diabetes. Extended family members, teachers, school nurses, counselors, coaches, day-care providers, and other resources in the community can provide information, support,and guidance regarding skills to cope with the disease.They may also act as resource persons for health education, financial services, social services, mental health counseling, transportation, and home visits.



"Diabetes is stressful for both - the child as well as his/ her family. Parents should be alert for signs of depression, eating disorders or an unexplained loss of weight and seek appropriate medical help. While all parents should talk to their children about avoiding tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs, this is particularly important for parents of children with diabetes. Smoking and diabetes, both increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases and those people with diabetes who are smokers are at an increased risk of heart/ circulatory problems. Hence parents/ family members of children/ adolescents living with diabetes should refrain from tobacco use in order to avoid sending wrong signals to their wards" recommends Dr Anoop Misra, Director and Head, Department of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, Fortis Hospitals New Delhi and Noida.



Depending on their age and level of maturity,children living with diabetes should be encouraged to take care of themselves. Most school-age children can recognize symptoms of hypoglycemia and if they are over 12 years old they may be able to take insulin injections of correct dosage by themselves. They can also be involved in planning their diet chart.



Treatment of diabetes in adolescents is complex and should only be handled by experienced physicians. Also, such patients should be looked after by a team consisting of diabetologist, nutritionist, diabetes educator, and psychologist.



Educating people with diabetes about diet, exercise and drugs is the most important part of the initial management of the disease and should be accomplished in several sessions. Insulin management should be discussed and demonstrated to children and parents, so that they can take insulin injections themselves. Parents, along with their children, should be made aware about healthy eating habits, physical exercise, and dosage management of drugs/ insulin.



IDF is bringing together key opinion leaders to push for action to secure care for the thousands of children with diabetes in developing countries without access to care at a meeting in London on October 25. The meeting, Access to Essential Diabetes Medicines for Children in the Developing World will focus on ways to help keep more children alive and healthy with diabetes. Ministries of Health from various developing countries, leaders from the pharmaceutical industry, philanthropic foundations, leading supply-chain management firms, diabetes associations, as well as professional societies in paediatrics and diabetes education have been invited to the meeting.



Close to 75,000 children in low-income and lower-middle income countries are living with diabetes in desperate circumstances. These children need life-saving insulin to survive. Even more children are in need of the monitoring equipment, test strips and education required to manage their diabetes and avoid the life-threatening complications associated with diabetes.



"We are bringing together the people and the organizations that can provide not only the interim humanitarian response to save lives but can lay the groundwork for sustainable solutions that will benefit all children with diabetes," said Dr Martin Silink, President of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).



Amit Dwivedi



(The author is a Special Correspondent to Citizen News Service (CNS). Email: amit@citizen-news.org)



Published in

The Seoul Times, Seoul, South Korea

Media for Freedom, Kathmandu, Nepal

Ground Report

The New Nation, Dhaka, Bangladesh

The Zimbabwe Guardian, Harare, Zimbabwe

Ghana News, Accra, Ghana

Asian Tribune, Bangkok, Thailand

Medical News Today

Northern News Lines, Chandigarh

African Path

Diabetologica

Kerala News, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

Assam Times, Guwahati, Assam

News from Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh

News Track India, Delhi

Thai Indian News, Bangkok, Thailand

Darjeeling Times, Darjeeling, West Bengal

Standard Times, Sierra Leone

Pakistan Post, Karachi, Pakistan

Bihar Times, Patna, Bihar

Bihar and Jharkhand News Service

Citizen News Service (CNS)

Central Chronicle, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh

National Examiner

The Med Guru

Madhumeh

Medical Lexicon

Diabetes News (Buzz Tracker)

Day Life, New York, USA

OpEd News (OEN), UK

My News, Delhi

News-Medical.net

News Blaze, USA

Howrah News Service (HNS), Kolkata, West Bengal

Med India

Blogging Zoom

Today India - daily newspaper

Care for children and adolescents living with diabetes

Care for children and adolescents living with diabetes



"Diabetes is a deadly disease, and each year, almost 4 million people die from diabetes-related causes. Children, particularly in countries where there is limited access to diabetes care and supplies, die young", according to International Diabetes Federation (IDF) which is an umbrella organization of over 200 member associations in more than 160 countries. IDF leads World Diabetes Day (www.worlddiabetesday.org) which falls on 14th November. The campaign is focusing its efforts on raising awareness of diabetes in children and adolescents.



Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases to affect children. Every day more than 200 children are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, requiring them to take multiple daily insulin shots and monitor the glucose levels in their blood. It is increasing at a rate of 3% each year among children and rising even faster in pre-school children at a rate of 5% per year. Currently, over 500,000 children under the age of 15 live with diabetes, according to IDF.



Since diabetes often requires life-long monitoring, care and treatment, is hospital-based approach better than home-based care approaches or a mix of these two approaches for effectively responding to care needs of those with diabetes?



Dr Sonia Kakar, a New Delhi based doctor, said: "hospital-based approach should be for the management of acute and/or chronic complications arising out of diabetes. But as 99% of diabetes care is self-care, empowering people with right information can make home-based care approach more feasible and economical."



She also felt that, "adolescents often have the motor and cognitive skills to perform all diabetes-related tasks and determine insulin doses based on blood glucose levels and food intake. Thus, they must be supervised in their diabetes tasks and allowed gradual independence with the understanding that the independence will be continued only if they adhere to the diabetes regimen and succeed in maintaining reasonable metabolic control."



"During mid-adolescence, the family and healthcare team should stress upon the teenagers the importance of checking blood glucose levels prior to driving a car to avoid hypoglycemia while driving" stressed Dr Kakar.



Managing diabetes in children and adolescents becomes more effective when the entire family gets involved. Families should be encouraged to share their concerns with physicians, diabetes educators, dietitians, and other healthcare providers to get help in the day-to-day management of diabetes. Extended family members, teachers, school nurses, counselors, coaches, day-care providers, and other resources in the community can provide information, support,and guidance regarding skills to cope with the disease.They may also act as resource persons for health education, financial services, social services, mental health counseling, transportation, and home visits.



"Diabetes is stressful for both - the child as well as his/ her family. Parents should be alert for signs of depression, eating disorders or an unexplained loss of weight and seek appropriate medical help. While all parents should talk to their children about avoiding tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs, this is particularly important for parents of children with diabetes. Smoking and diabetes, both increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases and those people with diabetes who are smokers are at an increased risk of heart/ circulatory problems. Hence parents/ family members of children/ adolescents living with diabetes should refrain from tobacco use in order to avoid sending wrong signals to their wards" recommends Dr Anoop Misra, Director and Head, Department of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, Fortis Hospitals New Delhi and Noida.



Depending on their age and level of maturity,children living with diabetes should be encouraged to take care of themselves. Most school-age children can recognize symptoms of hypoglycemia and if they are over 12 years old they may be able to take insulin injections of correct dosage by themselves. They can also be involved in planning their diet chart.



Treatment of diabetes in adolescents is complex and should only be handled by experienced physicians. Also, such patients should be looked after by a team consisting of diabetologist, nutritionist, diabetes educator, and psychologist.



Educating people with diabetes about diet, exercise and drugs is the most important part of the initial management of the disease and should be accomplished in several sessions. Insulin management should be discussed and demonstrated to children and parents, so that they can take insulin injections themselves. Parents, along with their children, should be made aware about healthy eating habits, physical exercise, and dosage management of drugs/ insulin.



IDF is bringing together key opinion leaders to push for action to secure care for the thousands of children with diabetes in developing countries without access to care at a meeting in London on October 25. The meeting, Access to Essential Diabetes Medicines for Children in the Developing World will focus on ways to help keep more children alive and healthy with diabetes. Ministries of Health from various developing countries, leaders from the pharmaceutical industry, philanthropic foundations, leading supply-chain management firms, diabetes associations, as well as professional societies in paediatrics and diabetes education have been invited to the meeting.



Close to 75,000 children in low-income and lower-middle income countries are living with diabetes in desperate circumstances. These children need life-saving insulin to survive. Even more children are in need of the monitoring equipment, test strips and education required to manage their diabetes and avoid the life-threatening complications associated with diabetes.



"We are bringing together the people and the organizations that can provide not only the interim humanitarian response to save lives but can lay the groundwork for sustainable solutions that will benefit all children with diabetes," said Dr Martin Silink, President of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).



Amit Dwivedi



(The author is a Special Correspondent to Citizen News Service (CNS). Email: amit@citizen-news.org)



Published in

The Seoul Times, Seoul, South Korea

Media for Freedom, Kathmandu, Nepal

Ground Report

The New Nation, Dhaka, Bangladesh

The Zimbabwe Guardian, Harare, Zimbabwe

Ghana News, Accra, Ghana

Asian Tribune, Bangkok, Thailand

Medical News Today

Northern News Lines, Chandigarh

African Path

Diabetologica

Kerala News, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

Assam Times, Guwahati, Assam

News from Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh

News Track India, Delhi

Thai Indian News, Bangkok, Thailand

Darjeeling Times, Darjeeling, West Bengal

Standard Times, Sierra Leone

Pakistan Post, Karachi, Pakistan

Bihar Times, Patna, Bihar

Bihar and Jharkhand News Service

Citizen News Service (CNS)

Central Chronicle, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh

National Examiner

The Med Guru

Madhumeh

Medical Lexicon

Diabetes News (Buzz Tracker)

Day Life, New York, USA

OpEd News (OEN), UK

My News, Delhi

News-Medical.net

News Blaze, USA

Howrah News Service (HNS), Kolkata, West Bengal

Med India

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CNS content submission policy and agreement

CNS content submission policy and agreement

Citizen Journalists or voluntary community correspondents are encouraged to submit content on people-centric issues to Citizen News Service (CNS), by email to: editor@citizen-news.org BUT before submitting, please read the CNS Content Submission Policy and Agreement - sending an email to editor@citizen-news.org or any of voluntary CNS core-team members with your content means you agree to the following CNS Content Submission Policy and Agreement:


By submitting your article or news features ("Content") to Citizen News Service (CNS), Author or Contributor ("You") agrees to these terms and conditions ("Agreement").

CNS reserves the right to change all or any part of this Agreement at any time. If Author or Contributor does not agree, then Author must not submit any Content to this Site. We ask that you read the terms of this Agreement with CNS carefully.

You agree that:

1. You are the copyright owner of the news or article;

2. You have the full power and authority to enter into this Agreement;

3. Your Content is well-written and devoid of grammatical, spelling, punctuation, and other language errors;

4. The Content you submit for publication on CNS will not violate or infringe the rights, including intellectual property rights, of any person or third party;

5. Submission of any Content to the Site does not in any way guarantee that Content will be published or will appear on the Site;

6. CNS can delete any Content at any time, without any notice to the Author;

7. Your news or article must be positive and factual. It should not promote hatred, racism, bigotry, or contain libelous, defamatory, illegal, violent, harmful, obscene, and sexual statements;

8. Your news or articles should not contain unfounded controversies, innuendoes, accusations, false claims and other unlawful and untruthful statements;

9. You will not submit any Content that contains any malicious code which may interrupt the normal operation of the website.

10. CNS reserves the right to reject any article for any reason;

11. You will disclose your true identity whenever asked, and not impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity;

12. CNS has no obligation to pay you a fee for publishing your article. If you are seeking payment for the use of your article, please do not submit your article to us; CNS is a network of voluntary citizen journalists who write on people-centric issues and doesn't pay any contributor.

13. CNS will publish ads on the page(s) containing your article;

14. CNS does not accept any responsibility or liability for the use or misuse of articles published on this web site;

15. You grant CNS the worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive right to publish, translate and distribute the Content in any media; in part or full; include the Content in advertising and promotion; include the Content in electronic, print, and non-print products anywhere in the world;

16. As an Author or Contributor, you agree to be bound by our Terms of Service and Disclaimer;

If you don't agree or aren't clear about the above mentioned content submission policy and agreement of CNS, please don't send your article to: editor@citizen-news.org before clarifying and agreeing to the above stated agreement. Contact us at: news@citizen-news.org or editor@citizen-news.org with your doubt or point of clarification. Don't submit content unless you agree completely in spirit and in word with the above guidelines.

How to become a Fellow of CNS Writers' Bureau?

Self-motivated individuals passionate about issues affecting their lives are welcome to contribute in different languages to CNS. They must read the following documents before sending their content:


- Content Submission Policy and Agreement
- Privacy Policy
- Issues in CNS Spotlight

- CNS Writers' Bureau
- Creative Commons Attribution License

- About Us


 If the potential writers (citizen journalists or community correspondents) agree to the CNS Content Submission Policy and Agreement, privacy policy, issues CNS focuses on, creative commons attribution license and other documents that define core values of CNS, they are welcome to send an email about their expression of interest to join CNS Writers' Bureau as Fellows to fellows@citizen-news.org . Our CNS team will get back to you with further details.

CNS content submission policy and agreement

CNS content submission policy and agreement

Citizen Journalists or voluntary community correspondents are encouraged to submit content on people-centric issues to Citizen News Service (CNS), by email to: editor@citizen-news.org BUT before submitting, please read the CNS Content Submission Policy and Agreement - sending an email to editor@citizen-news.org or any of voluntary CNS core-team members with your content means you agree to the following CNS Content Submission Policy and Agreement:


By submitting your article or news features ("Content") to Citizen News Service (CNS), Author or Contributor ("You") agrees to these terms and conditions ("Agreement").

CNS reserves the right to change all or any part of this Agreement at any time. If Author or Contributor does not agree, then Author must not submit any Content to this Site. We ask that you read the terms of this Agreement with CNS carefully.

You agree that:

1. You are the copyright owner of the news or article;

2. You have the full power and authority to enter into this Agreement;

3. Your Content is well-written and devoid of grammatical, spelling, punctuation, and other language errors;

4. The Content you submit for publication on CNS will not violate or infringe the rights, including intellectual property rights, of any person or third party;

5. Submission of any Content to the Site does not in any way guarantee that Content will be published or will appear on the Site;

6. CNS can delete any Content at any time, without any notice to the Author;

7. Your news or article must be positive and factual. It should not promote hatred, racism, bigotry, or contain libelous, defamatory, illegal, violent, harmful, obscene, and sexual statements;

8. Your news or articles should not contain unfounded controversies, innuendoes, accusations, false claims and other unlawful and untruthful statements;

9. You will not submit any Content that contains any malicious code which may interrupt the normal operation of the website.

10. CNS reserves the right to reject any article for any reason;

11. You will disclose your true identity whenever asked, and not impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity;

12. CNS has no obligation to pay you a fee for publishing your article. If you are seeking payment for the use of your article, please do not submit your article to us; CNS is a network of voluntary citizen journalists who write on people-centric issues and doesn't pay any contributor.

13. CNS will publish ads on the page(s) containing your article;

14. CNS does not accept any responsibility or liability for the use or misuse of articles published on this web site;

15. You grant CNS the worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive right to publish, translate and distribute the Content in any media; in part or full; include the Content in advertising and promotion; include the Content in electronic, print, and non-print products anywhere in the world;

16. As an Author or Contributor, you agree to be bound by our Terms of Service and Disclaimer;

If you don't agree or aren't clear about the above mentioned content submission policy and agreement of CNS, please don't send your article to: editor@citizen-news.org before clarifying and agreeing to the above stated agreement. Contact us at: news@citizen-news.org or editor@citizen-news.org with your doubt or point of clarification. Don't submit content unless you agree completely in spirit and in word with the above guidelines.

How to become a Fellow of CNS Writers' Bureau?

Self-motivated individuals passionate about issues affecting their lives are welcome to contribute in different languages to CNS. They must read the following documents before sending their content:


- Content Submission Policy and Agreement
- Privacy Policy
- Issues in CNS Spotlight

- CNS Writers' Bureau
- Creative Commons Attribution License

- About Us


 If the potential writers (citizen journalists or community correspondents) agree to the CNS Content Submission Policy and Agreement, privacy policy, issues CNS focuses on, creative commons attribution license and other documents that define core values of CNS, they are welcome to send an email about their expression of interest to join CNS Writers' Bureau as Fellows to fellows@citizen-news.org . Our CNS team will get back to you with further details.