NSF (UK) Awareness Session with Diabetes UK
NSF (UK) seeks to “Connect Nigerians, Promote Awareness, Develop our Communities”. To this end, it has been involved with raising awareness of health issues. One of these areas of health concern is Diabetes.
In June this year, NSF (UK) hosted a presentation given to members by Mistura Yusuf on the risks surrounding Diabetes among BME groups. Mistura is a volunteer for the Heal-D project and Diabetes UK and her role involves raising awareness of type 2 diabetes in all communities and encouraging others to become volunteers.
Heal-D is a King’s College London project initiative that seeks to improve treatment outcomes for people of African and Caribbean origin with diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. Diabetes UK is a charity initiative that cares, connects and campaigns for people with or at risk of having Diabetes, to ensure people with diabetes do not suffer.
Mistura’s presentation focussed on the two main types of Diabetes, type 1 and type 2. She explained that people with type 1 diabetes produce very little, if any insulin while those with type 2 diabetes do not produce enough insulin or the insulin they do produce does not function properly. The two conditions are quite different, with different causes and the treatments can be different, too. Both conditions are however serious and could lead to devastating effects if they are not managed well.
The incidence of Diabetes among the BME community which includes Nigerians is quite high. There are 3.8million people in the UK living with diabetes, including 850,000 people who have Type 2 diabetes but don’t know it. Some of them are Nigerians and this number continues to rise. Physical activity and exercise play a key role in the prevention and treatment of Type 2 Diabetes.
Update 27/08/2017
Mistura and other Diabetes UK Community Champions manned the Diabetes UK stand at the NSF(UK) 6th Sports and Family Fun Day held on Bank holiday Sunday 27th August 2017, at the Allianz Park. They carried out assessments of people at risk of developing Type2 diabetes. The event also provided a forum to discuss the risks of Nigerians in Diaspora developing Diabetes, what this means in terms of becoming physically active and the difference the NSF (UK) event can make in providing an avenue for engagement with the wider Nigerian community.
