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THE community is being urged to step out once more to support one of the most popular events on the island aimed at raising awareness about diabetes, how to manage it and help prevent it in the future.
The eighth ‘Beat Diabetes Walkathon’ on Saturday, organised by The Al Rashid Group to support the coming global World Diabetes Day initiative, will be staged at the Dohat Arad Park in Muharraq from 4pm.
The event attracted more than 6,000 participants last year who walked and ran the course which measures around 3km and organisers hope similar support to the cause will be shown this weekend.
Ivan Styk, Al Rashid Group’s territory head, said: “The walk is a very important annual event for us as it brings the community together and raises awareness about a condition that is steadily growing in prevalence in the region. “More than half the people living with the condition are not aware that they have it and it is essential that we come together and raise awareness about diabetes. Like every year, we hope to see the community join us and make this event a success.”
Including the walk and run, the park will also stage a host of complimentary fun-filled activities, such as special fitness activities, children’s entertainment including face painting and balloon bending, an on-site DJ and live entertainment acts.
Stands serving healthy snacks will also be set up at the venue. Furthermore, there will be free blood glucose testing for all participants available. Al Rashid Group launched the ‘Beat Diabetes’ initiative in 2009, with an aim to spread awareness on the prevention and management of diabetes across Bahrain, which is growing exponentially.
Details of this weekend’s event were unveiled at a press conference on Sunday at Bahrain’s Movenpick Hotel hosted by company executives, medics and sponsors. Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterised by high blood sugar (glucose) levels that result from defects in insulin secretion.
Normally, blood glucose levels are tightly-controlled by insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas. Insulin lowers the blood glucose level. When the blood glucose elevates, for example, after eating food, insulin is released from the pancreas to normalise the glucose level.
In patients with diabetes, the absence, or insufficient production of insulin, causes hyperglycemia. Diabetes is a chronic medical condition, meaning that although it can be controlled, it lasts a lifetime.
Over time, diabetes can lead to blindness, kidney failure and nerve damage as a result of damage to small vessels. Diabetes is also an important factor in accelerating the hardening and narrowing of the arteries leading to strokes and coronary heart disease.
In 2007 health ministry officials from across the GCC met in Kuwait to discuss what was termed a ‘diabetes pandemic sweeping the region’. They heard that regional countries have amongst the worst record in the world for diabetes.
According to The International Diabetes Federation in 2003, the top five countries with the highest percentage of adults with diabetes were: Nauru (South Pacific) (30.2 per cent), United Arab Emirates (20.1 per cent), Qatar (16 per cent), Bahrain (14.9 per cent) and Kuwait (12.8 per cent). Obesity and inherited predispositions are the major causes of diabetes - both factors appear to be at epidemic proportions in the Middle East.
In Bahrain, 83 per cent of women are obese or overweight according to a report by the International Obesity Task Force, a Londonbased think tank that tries to persuade countries to tackle the problem.
Healthy eating, along with medicine, if prescribed, and regular physical activity, can help lower blood sugar. Eating healthily is key to reducing the risk of health complications from diabetes and regular physical activity can lower blood sugar by decreasing insulin resistance, so this weekend’s event has added impetus.
