Ogbera Anthonia Okeoghene, Ekpebegh Chukwuma
Anthonia Okeoghene Ogbera, Department of Medicine, Endocrine Unit, Lagos State University College of Medicine, PMB 21266, Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria.
World J Diabetes. 2014 Dec 15;5(6):905-11. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v5.i6.905.
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a diverse group of metabolic disorders that is often associated with a high disease burden in developing countries such as Nigeria. In the early nineties, not much was known about DM in Nigeria and traditionally, people related DM to "curses" or "hexes" and diagnosis was made based on blood or urinary tests for glucose. Currently, oral hypoglycaemic agents but not insulin are readily accessible and acceptable to persons with DM. The cost of diabetes care is borne in most instances by individuals and often payment is "out of pocket"-this being a sequel of a poorly functional national health insurance scheme. An insulin requiring individual on a minimum wage would spend 29% of his monthly income on insulin. Complementary and alternative medicines are widely used by persons with DM and form an integral component of DM care. Towards reducing the burden of DM in Nigeria, we suggest that there be concerted efforts by healthcare professionals and stakeholders in the health industry to put in place preventative measures, a better functioning health insurance scheme and a structured DM program.
糖尿病（DM）是一组多样的代谢紊乱疾病，在尼日利亚等发展中国家通常与高疾病负担相关。在九十年代初，尼日利亚对糖尿病了解不多，传统上人们将糖尿病与“诅咒”或“魔法”联系起来，诊断基于血液或尿液葡萄糖检测。目前，糖尿病患者容易获得并接受口服降糖药，但不包括胰岛素。糖尿病护理费用在大多数情况下由个人承担，而且通常是“自掏腰包”——这是国家医疗保险计划功能不佳的结果。一个领取最低工资且需要使用胰岛素的人将把其月收入的29%用于购买胰岛素。糖尿病患者广泛使用补充和替代药物，这些药物构成糖尿病护理的一个组成部分。为减轻尼日利亚的糖尿病负担，我们建议医疗保健专业人员和健康行业的利益相关者共同努力，制定预防措施、建立功能更完善的医疗保险计划和结构化的糖尿病项目。
