71% of children with diabetes are sad, anxious-study

A new study has revealed that 71 percent of children suffering from type 1 diabetes (T1D) are living a sad and anxious life.
The 2023 study titled ‘The Whole Child’ sampled 68 children across different regions in the country.

According to the study, 45 percent fear hypoglycemia or death, 50 percent feel that they are a financial burden to family, while 41 percent said they are living in families and communities which do not understand their conditions.

T1D is among the deadly diabetes, which attacks the body’s immune system and destroys the insulin-making cells in the pancreas.
 It is chronic and complex condition requiring frequent administration of insulin, close and frequent monitoring of blood sugar, assurance and consideration of food and nutrition and careful consideration of physical activity.

Speaking during the Palliative Care Association of Uganda (PCAU) quarterly national update meeting on Friday, experts said all this is due low funding.
Mr Emmanuel Kisembo, the Programmes manager of Sonia Nabeta Foundation said many children suffering from this disease are living a sad life worsened by absence of enough palliative care.

“They face numerous challenges, including; social factors like economic instability, unsupportive home environments, low education, food insecurity, community and social ostracization and cultural misconceptions,” he said
The meeting was held under the theme: The Need and Role of Palliative Care for Children with Type One Diabetes Mellitus.
Dr Cissy Nalunkuma, a Pediatric Endocrinologist said many children are suffering from this type of diabetes but majority go undocumented.
“People with type 1 or type 2 diabetes grow old, but many have a shorter life expectancy than the general population,” she said.
Currently, there are over 3,000 children who are registered in the type 1 programme in the country, according to Dr Nalunkuma.

Dr Silver Bahendeka, a senior consultant physician; Diabetes and Endocrinology at St Francis Hospital Nsambya and National Coordinator Type 1 Diabetes Project in Uganda, lauded PCAU for the efforts they have put in place to spread palliative care towards these children.
He further discouraged the referral systems which he said has weakened health care system making response to some of these challenges slow, “yet we need to fast track.” 
 
Experts from PCAU led by their executive re-echoed their earlier call, to the government asking the latter to develop the National Palliative Care Policy which will end the current inequalities.
Statistics from the ministry of health’s Health Management Information System show that only 11 percent of the estimated 500,000 Ugandans who need palliative care services are able to access it.