The Federal Ministry of Health is strengthening the primary healthcare system to include diabetes management with foot care assessment and referral into the existing health care service at the primary healthcare level.
The National Desk Officer, Diabetes, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Alayo Sopekan, stated this at the 6th Annual International Diabetes, Podiatry & Diabetes Foot Care workshop in Lagos.
Dr. Sopekan who decried the burden of diabetes foot disease said its economic burden was quite significant.
Sopekan, represented by an official of the ministry’s Diabetes Desk, Dr. Olanike Kehinde Akinkoye, however assured of Government’s commitment in providing leadership for prevention and control of diabetes and other non-communicable diseases through the Federal Ministry of Health “by strategically eliminating the risk factors, improving the management of these diseases as well as preventing their complications. “
He said: “In Nigeria, a large majority of people living with the disease have little or no knowledge of diabetes and its complications. It is estimated that the rate of foot ulcer among people living with diabetes is between 8.3 percent and 19 percent in the different zones of the country.
“The rate of amputation was also estimated to be as high as 53.2 percent in people with foot ulcer in some centres, thereby making diabetes foot the most common cause of non-traumatic amputation in the lower extremities in Nigeria.
“The apex ministry had prepared the National Guideline for the Prevention, Control and Management of Diabetes and currently carrying out a Diabetes Awareness and Care Project in the FCT and Imo State through support of the World Diabetes Foundation, WDF.
“These supports include capacity building at the Primary Care level within the selected sites and medical outreaches. It is envisaged that the project would be scaled up. “More so, the Federal Ministry of Health in collaboration with non-health Ministries, Department and Agencies developed the 7-year National Multisectoral Action Plan (NMSAP) for the prevention and control of NCDs to serve as a strategic guide for the national response to NCDs in Nigeria”.
