The FINANCIAL — It is estimated that the number of overweight children in Turkey has reached around 2 million.
Over the past eight years, obesity in children has risen from 5 percent to 10.5 percent. Professor Şükrü Hatun spoke with Sunday’s Zaman and noted that obese children face a serious risk of becoming diabetic.
Every year around 2,000 children are diagnosed diabetic. In the 6-16 age group in Turkey, obesity rates have risen from 5 percent to 10.5 percent in just eight years. Of the obese children within this age group, 16.3 percent belong to families that place in the highest income bracket. In other words, one in every 10 children is now extremely overweight. More than 17,000 children in our country are diabetic as well.
Pediatric diabetes needs to be monitored very closely. Dr. Hatun, of the department of diabetes and endocrinology at Kocaeli University’s Faculty of Medicine, notes that diabetic children need to have their blood sugar levels checked four times a day and may thusly receive insulin injections up to four times a day depending on the results of the tests. Serious problems connected with pediatric diabetes can result when children, who are in school for most of the day, are unable to find food at school that fits their diabetic needs, when they are not in an environment supportive of administering insulin shots, when there is not an immediate intervention should their blood sugar levels drop, and when other children and teachers do not treat the situation with empathy.
Noting that overweight children face not only the risk of adult obesity but also diabetes, Dr. Hatun says snack foods and sugary drinks are the worst culprits of childhood obesity, as is a lack of physical activity.
Hatun warns that some teachers with insufficient information about diabetes may adopt an attitude of “not wanting to take responsibility for diabetic children” and thus not include such children in various school activities such as sports or trips. “Because of these sorts of problems, we see some mothers of diabetic children, especially those in primary school, spending the entire day at school with their kids. In order to reduce these problems, school officials and teachers must be educated on the topic,” she said.As part of the Diabetes School Program, a first for Turkey that was implemented last year, teachers and students are being extensively educated on childhood diabetes, obesity and healthy nutrition with the aim of raising future generations of healthy students.
Another goal of the ODP — part of the Ministry of Health’s Diabetes Control Program, coordinated by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and the Foundation of Childhood Endocrinology and Diabetes and supported by the pharmaceutical firm Sanofi-Aventis — is to raise awareness among 750,000 teachers and 17 million students about childhood diabetes and obesity.
Lectures will educate both teachers and students on the related issues as part of diabetes awareness events planned for the month of November across Turkey’s 81 provinces. Other steps being taken by the ODP in light of the now 2 million estimated overweight children in Turkey include the Beslenme Dostu Okul Sertifikasyonu, or Friendly Nutritional School Certification — a certificate granted by both the Ministry of Health and the ministry of Education to schools that encourage and educate students on health and nutrition, obesity prevention and living a physically active life — and the Diabetic Children’s Grant Program.
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