Study reveals high prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, and obesity in Ga Mashie

A recent study on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) carried out in Ga Mashie, Accra, has shown that six out of every ten inhabitants in that area have either hypertension, diabetes, or obesity.

The study found that the prevalence of diabetes was 8.2 per cent, and the prevalence of hypertension increased by 19 per cent between 2013 and 2023. It also

Read full articlefound that people with diabetes had a lower quality of life compared to those without diabetes.

The study aimed to generate contextual understandings of diabetes in Ga-Mashie and identify opportunities for community-based intervention strategies for diabetes prevention and control.

The study was conducted by the Contextual Awareness Response and Evaluation; Diabetes in Ghana (CARE Diabetes) project team, which consisted of people from the University of Ghana, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, UHAS, and with funding from MRC of the UK Research and Innovation, Graphic Online reports.

The study randomly sampled adults aged 25 years and above across 80 enumeration areas drawn from the 2021 Ghana Population and Housing Census.

At a dissemination meeting held in Accra yesterday, Dr. Raphael Awuah, a co-investigator of the CARE Diabetes team, who presented the findings together with Dr Sandra Boatemaa Kushitor, said the study identified that while knowledge of the causes of diabetes was fairly high in the community, there were some misconceptions.

The study further found out that those with diabetes in the community spent 85 per cent of their low income of less than GHc600 to manage their condition. It found that the majority of them were not covered by health insurance and had to pay out of their pockets to seek healthcare.

The study revealed that one-third of those living with diabetes were seeking care from biomedical sources, even though there was a plethora of healthcare service providers in the community.

Dr Awuah described the findings as frightening, considering that aside from the three NCDs that were found there, communicable diseases were also prevalent, which meant they had what was known in health cycles as the double burden of disease.

He called on all stakeholders, including the NCD division of the Ghana Health Service, to give special attention and focus on communities such as Ga Mashie that were urban poor when considering plans, strategies, and actions to reduce the burden of NCDs in the country.

Professor Kwadwo Koram, a co-investigator of the CARE Diabetes team, said diabetes had become a problem not only in Ghana but worldwide, adding that in some regions of the country, prevalence was getting to 10 per cent.

He said unlike infectious diseases, people might not even be aware they had NCDs, pointing out that it was sad that the youth, whom as children were saved against vaccine-preventable diseases, were now succumbing to NCDs such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity.

The CARE Diabetes project would implement a pilot intervention program that would include getting residents of the community subscribed to the NHIS.

Professor Ed Fottrell, another co-investigator of CARE Diabetes, said they measured the weight, height, waist circumference, blood pressure, and random blood glucose of participants as part of the study. Also measured as part of the study were their care-seeking and healthcare expenditure, diabetes knowledge, and sociodemographics.

He called for an urgent response to dealing with NCDs, including diabetes, in Ghana and worldwide, and also for the team to ensure that there was improved health through interventions that were designed with the community in mind.

The Assemblyman for the Ngleshie Electoral Area, Festus Nii Ayi Hayford, responding to the low NHIS registration in Ga Mashie, said education on health insurance in the community was not enough and called for the intensification of education in the community.

He said some residents complained of frustrations they went through trying to access healthcare services using the health insurance, especially at the public hospitals.