Before numberless risks, women and girls are considered vulnerable. Hence, the importance of dedicating them the World Diabetes Day, which is held every November 14*.

This year it will be held under the theme Women and Diabetes: “Our right to a healthy future” and organizers seek to raise awareness on a metabolic disease that affects millions of people on the planet and around 10% of the Cuban population, although it is hard to specify figures, because many suffer from it asymptomatically.

According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF English acronym), it is the ninth leading cause of death among women worldwide, with 2.1 million deaths each year.

The source also states that 2 out of 5 women with diabetes are in reproductive age (over 60 million), therefore they have more difficulty conceiving and may find it harder to have a successful pregnancy.

IDF acknowledges that girls and women with that condition, especially in developing nations, face barriers in accessing effective prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment and care.

In our country, diabetes is associated, above all, with third age people and its early detection has influenced the lowering of death rates.

Cuba grants special attention to this health condition, so it has created Centers for Diabetes Care and Education (CDCE English acronym), spaces that offer multidisciplinary consultations geared at guiding patients on how to coexist with the said disease.

Blindness and lower-limb amputation are two of the most serious consequences.

Hence the transcendence of Heberprot-P, a drug developed at the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB Spanish acronym); at present the only alternative to prevent lower-limb amputation in diabetic people with terminal lesions, because it speeds up healing.

Because of its proven effectiveness, it is applied in hundreds of healthcare units across the country and over twenty nations have already registered it.

Today, November 14, diabetes will not be a simple health issue. It’s worth staring at it, because it affects, especially, those who give life on this planet.

*It was established in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation (FID) and the World Health Organization (WHO English acronym) as a response to the alarming rise of diabetic cases globally. The date was chosen to mark the birthday of Frederick Banting, who along with Charles Best, conceived the idea that would lead them to the discovery of insulin in October 1921.

Translated by Jorge Mesa Benjamin / Cubasi Translation Staff