POLICY/RESEARCH

Out-door games can reduce diabetes in children

Mrs Elizabeth Denyo, the President of Ghana Diabetes Association (GDA), has urged parents and guardians to allow their children to engage more in out-door games to enable them use the accumulated energy.

She noted that children have acquired the habit of getting glued to the computer mostly playing games and attributed this to the advent of technology.

Mrs Denyoh, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency expressed worry that children are increasingly acquiring lifestyle diseases at the early stages of their lives.

In Ghana, more than 109 Ghanaian children are reported to have diabetes at the various hospitals in the country.

The GDA President has therefore called on parents to educate their wards on other sources of entertainment that help them to work out physically.

Mrs Denyoh recalled years back when children played ampe, football, skipping and ludu among some traditional games which is gradually dying and therefore called for the reinstatement of these competitions in the homes and neighborhood.

The increase in diabetes is fueled by increased urbanisation, unhealthy lifestyles, rising obesity and an aging population.

According to health professionals, sufficient insulin is important for everybody particularly children, explaining that people who lack insulin may develop complications which could result in death.

Some complications associated with the lack of insulin included blindness, stroke, loss of sensation when hot or cold object is touched, and development of difficult-to-heal ulcers.

There are two main types of diabetes: In type 1 diabetes, the body no longer makes insulin because the body’s own immune system has attacked and destroyed the cells where insulin while in type two diabetes, the body either doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use its own insulin as it should.


GNA

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