UAE | Health

Diabetes survey for children soon

A diabetes survey targeting children will be conducted soon to discover how many and how young children are when they get the metabolic disorder.

  • By Nina Muslim, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 00:11 November 11, 2008
  • Gulf News

Dubai: A diabetes survey targeting children will be conducted soon to discover how many and how young children are when they get the metabolic disorder.

The country has the second worst prevalence rate globally.

Doctors have reported children as young as 10 being diagnosed with Type II diabetes, formerly known as adult-onset diabetes because it develops after years of unhealthy living. Children as young as 6 have shown up with symptoms of pre-diabetes.

According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), about one in five people in the UAE has diabetes, second only to the South Pacific island-state of Nauru.

Dr Muna Al Khuwairi, federal director primary healthcare and higher education at the ministry of health, said the first school to be surveyed is in Sharjah. She spoke to Gulf News on the sidelines of the 'Unite for Diabetes' awareness campaign launched yesterday.

"We've already started doing the survey as a pilot project. Once we have the results, hopefully within five or six months, we will implement it in all schools in the UAE," she said.

Lifestyle

She said the survey measures the schoolchildren's weight and height, to calculate their body mass index, and also asks the children about their eating habits and lifestyles.

The results of the survey will be compared to the findings of the 2006 World Health Organisation (WHO) Global School-Based Student Health Survey. The survey found that 11.8 per cent of 13-year-olds to 15-year-olds surveyed in private and public schools were obese.

In addition, 21.3 per cent were at risk of becoming obese. Many students also said they had regularly eaten fat-laden foods and did not exercise much, although a majority had received information on healthy foods and lifestyle at schools.

Dr Al Khuwairi said she hoped the findings of the new survey would not show the trend had worsened since 2006.

"I hope not because we already have a lot of schoolchildren who are overweight ... who eat junk food and do not get enough exercise," she said.

She added the ministry was working on implementing a school health programme to educate kindergarten-age children on diabetes, its risks and how to prevent it.

She also said the government has started to require schools to have only healthy foods on the cafeteria menu, expected to be completed next year.

Disease risk: Watch out

  • 19.6 per cent of the UAE population is estimated to have diabetes
  • the figure goes up for UAE nationals, with a 25 per cent prevalence rate
  • being overweight and obese puts one at risk of developing diabetes
  • having diabetes increases one's risk of cardiovascular disease
  • it also increases one's risk of premature blindness, loss of limb and other disabilities

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