Talabi Diabetes Centre organises camp for 21 young people living with type-1 diabetes in Ogun

…as Obasanjo advises them on how to manage disease

The Talabi Diabetes Centre has organised a four-day Ogun State Diabetes Youth Development Camp to train 21 young people reportedly living with type-1 diabetes.

The camp which was held at the Youth Development Center of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta had participants being trained on how to manage diabetes.

The camp which started on Sunday ended on Wednesday with former president Olusegun Obasanjo coming to advise the young people with the disease on how to live long with it.

Obasanjo during the closing ceremony revealed how he had been managing diabetes for the past 35 years.

Obasanjo while advising the young patients maintained that the diabetes is not a killer disease.

He revealed that he went around with his drugs and testing kits so as to ensure he has the right blood sugar level.

He stressed that he was above 80 years and could engage in every activities despite being diabetic.

The former president however told the young patients to follow prescriptions given to them in managing the disease.

He added, “I have been diagnosed of diabetes for more than 35 years now and here I am, I’m still going about, I’m still jumping up and down, I’m still doing many things many people of my age cannot do.

“Since I was diagnosed of diabetes, a number of my friends have died and the reason is because they just did not manage their diabetes the way they should manage it.

“It does not matter whether you are type one or type two, so far there is no cure for diabetes, maybe there will be cure before I die, but I pray that there will be cure before you die.

“You have to understand the type of food you should eat, you must completely abstain from sugar. The amount of carbohydrates that you take must be watched.

“Don’t miss your drugs, in your own case, your insulin injection, I take my drugs along with me everywhere I go and I always check my blood sugar level regularly.

“Don’t let anybody put fear in your minds, diabetes, has no cure for now, but it can be managed.”

In his remarks, the camp coordinator, Dr Olubiyi Adesina said the camp was organised to give information and encourage the young people between age 1 and 21 living with type-1 diabetes.

Adesina added,” these young people are on insulin injection depending on the dose, it is costly. Averagely, each one of them will be spending closely to N20,000 a month on insulin injection alone. And that’s for the rest of their lives, so, it is very expensive to manage this.

“Now we have organized this program for young people living with type-1 diabetes to give them a lot of information on how to manage themselves.

“Type-1 diabetes is a lifelong disease and we tend to see it in young children and it requires daily insulin injection for life for them to survive. If they stop giving them this injection, they are likely to go into coma in a few days and eventually die. So, we have brought them together and give them necessary information needed for survival.”