To aid Filipinos in defeating diabetes, global pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk Philippines has come up with a Diabetes Risk Assessment tool that can be accessed conveniently online.
The simple-to-understand and easy-to-take survey can help Filipino patients assess their diabetes risk, help prevent its onset by addressing risks that are modifiable and avoidable, get the proper diagnosis and understand the type of diabetes they have, and ultimately get treatment and management tools that can enable everyone to defeat diabetes together.
The Diabetes Risk Assessment tool, created in partnership with the Quezon City Lions Club, aims to promote early detection awareness by adopting a version of the risk assessment survey of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and localizing it for Filipinos. Continuous efforts are also made by finding new ways to overcome the disease and making donations to several foundations.
Apart from the Quezon City Cubao Lions Club, Novo Nordisk has also partnered with Philippine Diabetes Support, Philippine Association of Diabetes Educators (PADE), Philippine Center for Diabetes Education Foundation, Inc (PCDEF), Philippine Society of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism (PSEDM), Institute for Studies on Diabetes Foundation, Inc. (ISDF), Diabetes Philippines, Inc. (DP), American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE), and the Danish Embassy, to ensure that the information about this campaign is well-distributed to their community of doctors and their patients.
According to Dr. Cecilia Jimeno, an endocrinologist from the University of the Philippines and Philippine General Hospital, this survey was made specifically considering the standard guidelines applicable to Filipinos, with the goal of helping people become aware of their diabetes risks (answers of yes to 3 or more of the questions in the survey indicate a risk of diabetes).
As a chronic illness that typically has no cure, diabetes can come with many consequences, including heart disease and stroke (those with Type 2 Diabetes).
In the long run, if left untreated, there can be more debilitating complications like blindness, kidney failure, heart failure, loss of a limb, and reduced life expectancy. Some risk factors, especially for type 2 diabetes, include family history, race, age, and depression.
That is why knowing these factors is crucial — to help identify which ones can be controlled and which ones are inevitable. This also stresses the importance of early detection and consultation with doctors, especially in the new normal, in order to assess patients’ health status, conduct necessary lab tests for management of condition, and ultimately control the disease and its accompanying complications.
The benefits and advantages presented surrounding the Diabetes Risk Assessment Online Survey are made clear, and serve to help spread awareness, inspire action, and make diabetes management better for Filipinos until we can all overcome it.
More Filipinos are envisioned to access and benefit from the survey, with the hope that more patients will be made aware of Type 2 diabetes risk and act upon it with the support of their doctors.
Through the online assessment, patients with high diabetes risk may be diagnosed earlier with proper consultation and communication with their doctors.
As for people with low to moderate risk, they may prevent the onset of diabetes by adopting a healthy lifestyle combined with regular medical consultation. For patients who are diagnosed earlier, they will be able to receive early treatment and optimize their diabetes control to prevent and/or delay complications.
Over 400 million people worldwide are diagnosed with diabetes (2019). In the Philippines, 1 out of 14 Filipino adults lives with diabetes. According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), as of May 2020, the total cases of diabetes in adults in the country are at 3.9 million.
In 2016 alone, the number of deaths due to diabetes in the Philippines was around 33,000 (male and female ages 30-70), and the number of deaths due to high blood glucose was around 55,000 in the same age group.
With these statistics, it is clearly imperative to bring these alarming numbers down. Early detection, diagnosis, treatment, plus the familiarity of risk factors is vital for better management of this global disease.
As World Diabetes Day rolls around, Novo Nordisk Philippines continues its commitment to raise awareness and take action against this disease that affects so many Filipinos. The company’s purpose is to drive change to defeat diabetes by providing access to affordable care and making insulin available at a lower cost. With the collective effort of all these organizations, the hope to Defeat Diabetes Together is strong.
