Islamabad: An estimated 26,000 children and teenagers develop Type 1 diabetes in Pakistan every year but 13,000 or nearly half of them do not survive, experts warned on Monday, saying delayed diagnosis and the unavailability of life saving insulin are costing hundreds of young lives across the country.
Health experts said around a quarter of these children with type 1 diabetes die before their condition is even diagnosed, while the remaining deaths occur because families are unable to afford or access insulin, which Type 1 diabetes patients require daily for survival. They warned that poor awareness among parents and even frontline doctors means many children are only diagnosed after collapsing or slipping into a coma.
These concerns were highlighted at an awareness ceremony on Type 1 diabetes where an agreement was signed between Meethi Zindagi, a non-profit working with insulin dependent patients, and the Discovering Diabetes Project run by PharmEvo to improve early detection, data collection and access to treatment for children with the disease.
Dr Sana Ajmal, founder and chief executive of Meethi Zindagi, said Type 1 diabetes is widely misunderstood in Pakistan and is often confused with Type 2 diabetes, which typically affects adults. “Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s own defence system destroys insulin producing cells in the pancreas,” she explained. “Once this happens, a child or teenager becomes dependent on insulin for the rest of their life. Without insulin, they simply cannot survive.”
Dr Ajmal, who herself lives with Type 1 diabetes, said lack of awareness was the biggest killer. “Most children with Type 1 diabetes are not diagnosed until they collapse. Parents do not recognize the warning signs and many doctors also fail to suspect it early,” she said while addressing the event.
She identified extreme tiredness, rapid weight loss, excessive thirst and frequent urination as the four key symptoms that should immediately raise alarm. “Any child showing these signs must be taken to a senior paediatric endocrinologist or a qualified diabetologist. Early diagnosis and timely insulin can save lives,” she stressed.
According to Dr Ajmal, Meethi Zindagi is currently providing free insulin to around 1,200 children with Type 1 diabetes across nearly 150 cities and towns, with support from philanthropists, corporate donors and pharmaceutical companies. “The majority of these families simply cannot afford insulin, which is needed daily and for life,” she said.
However, she acknowledged that the scale of the problem is far bigger than what charities alone can handle. “We cannot reach every patient. With nearly 26,000 new cases every year, and possibly as many as 150,000 children living with Type 1 diabetes in Pakistan, half of whom are at risk of dying due to late diagnosis and lack of insulin, this has become a national health emergency,” she said.
The human cost of this failure was underlined when two mothers of children with Type 1 diabetes shared their experiences at the ceremony. Both said their daughters were only diagnosed after suddenly collapsing and going into coma. “No one, including doctors we consulted earlier, recognized the symptoms,” one mother said, adding that timely awareness could have prevented life threatening complications.
Under the memorandum of understanding, Meethi Zindagi will work with the Discovering Diabetes Project to identify undiagnosed Type 1 diabetes patients, maintain a national level dataset and ensure that needy children are connected with treatment and insulin support. The agreement was signed by Dr Sana Ajmal on behalf of Meethi Zindagi and Mohsin Shiraz, project manager of the Discovering Diabetes initiative at PharmEvo.
Mohsin Shiraz said PharmEvo has been running a digital diabetes awareness chatbot, Diabot, for the past five years, which has helped hundreds of thousands of people with Type 2 diabetes understand their condition and seek treatment. “Recently, we started receiving queries from undiagnosed Type 1 diabetes patients and parents looking for urgent guidance,” he said.
He said this gap led to collaboration with Meethi Zindagi. “Through this partnership, we will help identify Type 1 diabetes patients early, collect reliable data and link them with Meethi Zindagi for insulin and long term care,” he said, adding that the project would also support training of clinicians and awareness sessions for parents to recognize early symptoms.
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