‘Access to diabetes education’, this year’s World Diabetes Day theme, is an extension of the larger, multiyear theme of ‘access to care’, and WHO is calling on nations to raise awareness of diabetes as a global public health issue and to work collectively and individually for better prevention, diagnosis and management of the condition.

But is ‘access’ all that is stopping people from getting treatment?

Aren’t there enough and more specialist clinics and hospitals – at least in this part of the world – to avail necessary treatment?

Sadly, it wasn’t ‘access’ – to education or to care – that stumped a dear friend, who went through a cataclysmic health phase, recently. That he survived is a blessing; it came in the form of a colleague who identified the symptoms and rushed him to the hospital. Perhaps, it was ‘access to care’, one that came from outside, that helped.

He was rushed to the intensive care unit of the hospital, where he went into a diabetic coma and had to undergo series of treatments for a week, before he was pronounced fit to go home.

His sugar level had spiked to 600 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL).

How did it reach that level? Wasn’t he aware of his condition?

Yes, he was aware. How, rather why it reached that level, is a question whose answer is as easy as solving a first grade mathematical equation. He had simply failed to update his medication and revise the dosage.

He had failed to keep a tab on his disease; failed to grasp that it is a chronic disease and that it needs regular attention; failed to read the triggers…

It is common to dismiss chronic diseases as age related, even when the symptoms persist. While in this young friend’s case it wasn’t so much as sidelining it on the ‘age factor’ as it was about following up with his family doctor, the fact remains that no disease (read that as chronic disease) can cure itself without timely interventions and follow-ups. Whether that intervention comes through as lifestyle change or follow-up with medication and dosage alterations, it is of critical importance to understand one’s body and its health frailties.

On this World Diabetes Day, take time to listen to your body, heed the little red flags and get the required care. Alternately, become a conduit to spread the theme of ‘diabetes education’ in helping friends, family, colleagues and even random others.

The need for awareness and education becomes imperative in the light of statistics. ‘Diabetes prevalence (% of population ages 20 to 79) in Oman was reported at 13.8 % in 2021’, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources.

Make time for your health – today!