A Physician Specialist at Ghana’s Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Beatrice Baaye says the adoption of Western lifestyle has led to an increase in diabetes cases among Ghanaians.
Dr Baaye explained that mimicking how those in the west live has resulted in an uptick in both diabetes and obesity in Ghana, similar to trends observed in western countries.
Speaking on JoyNews’ AM show on Monday, she stated, “In Ghana, we are copying every aspect, including their food. Now, there are lots of junk foods, and is as a result of, we are all busy; we do not even have time to look after ourselves. Maybe you come to work around 7 a.m., you are not able to take your breakfast, you get home around 10 p.m. or 8 p.m., you are now going to eat, and immediately you finish eating you are going to sleep.
“That is all part of the sedentary life, and diabetes is one of the risk factors. If you go to bed with all these risk factors, a time will come when you will end up with diabetes, especially if there is a family history of it as well, so I think all these are causing the diabetes to rise in our country”.
A Pharmacist at Trust Hospital, Anthony Avege, highlighted several factors contributing to the rise in diabetes cases, including urbanisation, aging populations, obesity, and sedentary lifestyles.
Mr Avege expressed concern over the increase in childhood obesity, noting that a lack of physical activity among children has become a significant issue.
He compared today’s youth, who often rely on cars and spend time using computers, to previous generations, who would walk to school and engage in more active play.
While you stay in Adenta, your kids are brought to Accra for school; they sit in the car, they close, they are sleeping when they get home, and they even eat in the car. No exercise on weekends; they are on the computers.
“We used to walk to school, and when we came back, we would play soccer and stuff, but these days it is all about IT and computers. No doubt we are are at this point”, he noted.
