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The President of the National Diabetes Association of Ghana who doubles as the Chairperson for the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), Mrs. Elizabeth Esi Denyoh, has stated that 1 out of 10 persons is living with Diabetes in Ghana.

Speaking at a health screening exercise organised by the Association at the Tema Station in Accra on Thursday ahead of this year's World Diabetes Day (WDD), she said the prevalence of the disease continued to soar in the country and it was important that citizens take seriously the practice of regulary testing to know their sugar levels for proper management and care.

Diabetes test was conducted for about a 1,000 people at the market place as a way of beginning the launch of National Diabetes Day which will fall on November 14th 2022. The exercise is th first leg of a strategy rolled out by National Diabetes Association-Ghana (NDAG) to screen  at least  30,000 people of diabetes across  all major markets in the country.

She noted that diabetes is a challenge and not a death sentence and will encourage each and every person to get tested earlier to prevent further complications.

Mrs. Elizabeth Denyoh made it known that as part of efforts in tackling the disease, the Association has resolved to educate the public concerning the foods that are consumed in the body, since it breaks down most of the food you eat into sugar (glucose) and releases it into your bloodstream

According to her, the sad part about this situation is that most people living with diabetes are not aware they have such chronic health conditions.

"Being diagnosed or knowing  is 50 percent solved and if you know and understand diabetes, you should know that no herbal product will flush out the  condition from your system so I will entreat people who have  been diagnosed with diabetes to continue taking their medication as prescribed, exercise, eat right and test often to maintain their sugar," she urged.

Marked every November 14, to coincide with the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, who co-discovered insulin along with Charles Best in 1992, the WDD is celebrated to draw attention to multi-stakeholder efforts to tackling diabetes as a public health issue.