Manama: Qatar's Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) is keen on increasing the number of diabetes educators by offering a diabetes education diploma to qualified practitioners in the country, an official said.
"Education is the cornerstone in the risk management of diabetes," Manal Musallam, HMC Senior Diabetes Educator, said. "We need more diabetes educators in the country to implement the new trend in diabetes education called ‘behaviour change'," Musallam said, quoted by Qatar Tribune on Tuesday.
HMC would partner with an institution from either the US or Canada for the plan.
Only five certified
Qatar has six full-time diabetes educators, with only five certified in the field. According to Musallam, the ideal is to have two diabetes educators in each of the 19 health centres across the country.
She said that a workshop for diabetes educators to be held on November 19 was an initial step in realising the goal of having more diabetes educators.
Planning a healthy meal
"About 40 participants from HMC, primary health care centres, Qatar Diabetes Association and Qatar Petroleum will take part in the workshop. The discussions will cover the role of diabetes educators, the importance of and guidelines for diabetes education, and planning a healthy meal," she said.
Zohair Al Arabi, a HMC dietician, said that healthy choices of meals to prevent diabetes were important and warned the public, especially the younger population, against fast food meals and soda.
People should eat three meals in a day, drink a lot of water (at least one glass every two hours), eat more leafy vegetables and fruits and engage in regular exercise, he said.
