Herbert Moyo
THE First Lady, Maesaiah Thabane, through the Maesaiah Thabane Trust Fund will host a diabetes education campaign in Moshoeshoe 1 statue in Maseru on Saturday.
The education comes against the background of the recent World Diabetes Day commemorations which were held in different countries, including Lesotho on 14 November.
World Diabetes Day was first commemorated in 1991 as an initiative of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organisation in response to growing concerns about the escalating health threat posed by diabetes.
In an interview with the Lesotho Times this week, the First Lady said the education campaign was necessitated by the fact the growing number of citizens who were being diagnosed with and affected by the disease.
“Through the Diabetes Awareness campaign we hope to encourage healthy eating, exercising, testing for diabetes as well as increase knowledge on affordable and equitable access for all citizens at the risk of, or living with diabetes,” the First Lady told this publication.
“We will run with the 2017 World Diabetes Day theme: Woman and Diabetes- Our Right to a Healthy Future.
“The theme promotes the importance of affordable and equitable access for all women at the risk of or living with diabetes to essential diabetes medicines, self-management education and information they require, achieving optimal diabetes outcomes and strengthening their capacity to prevent type 2 diabetes.
“199 million in the world are diabetic and most of these are from poor countries like Lesotho. This therefore calls for the Basotho women to be empowered to enable them to have access to affordable medication and facilities.
“Research has also shown that two out of every five women with diabetes are expecting and this increases their chances of losing the baby.
Basotho women must therefore also be educated to take control of their lives because diabetes is often associated and even aggravated by other non-communicable diseases like hypertension, heart disease and even kidney failure,” the First Lady said.
There will be three hours of activity which will be followed by other activities at selected dates and venues.”
The Maesaiah Thabane Trust Fund is a non-profit organisation that was established in May 2017 by the First Lady with the principal purpose of meeting the needs of underprivileged, disabled and elderly citizens.
