Cape Talk

Incredibly stubborn socioeconomic roots, but I would have thought the stuff that we could do better in our health system is doable. I mean, if you were to prioritize two, three, four things, what would those things be if we were to at least put a break on the surge in diabetes and its consequences? So, what I would suggest, and this is data, we've got a national strategy that's there, but we do need to implement it better, is looking at unhealthy food and

Environments looking at dealing with obesity and inactivity, as well as screening, and also to improve treatment for those that are already living with type 2 diabetes. It takes too long for you to get a diagnosis, and when you do get a diagnosis, you're probably not getting the best drugs that are available. But what makes it also a little bit more complicated is that all this treatment is just not in the healthcare sector. So, one is the sugar attacks that I think we've all heard about, right?

There is making sure that sugary beverages are taxed. That needs to be higher. We've seen that in other countries such as Brazil and Mexico, that are increasing that tax, people consume sugary beverages less, and that on a population level can reduce type two diabetes. So it's also outside of the healthcare system that we have to look at. And just finally, I mean, the way in which people who are treating and trying to manage their diabetes

My understanding is we've moved from the era of large needles to something that's much more easy to A, self-administer. But perhaps easier to store the medication under circumstances where people don't always have access to refrigeration? Is the technology our friend in this regard? So we have quite a lot of things in our toolbox, but access and cost remains a big issue in France.

Africa and other countries such as ours, because we've got newer drugs such as GLPs. I mean, we hear them a lot in the media when it comes to obesity, but those drugs are primarily for the management of type 2 diabetes. And there are also some oral agents as well that are available. But I, you know, but what this is bringing to the fore of like type 2 diabetes being a significant cause of deaths and illness in South Africa.

Is that non-communicable diseases are here. And as a country, you know, if you think of South Africa, we think of HIV. And I'm an HIV physician myself. Right. But increasingly, I'm in this field because this is what we're seeing: is that with HIV, we had a blueprint, we had medications, we had pulled procurement, we had training, and we had drugs available and political commitment. We need to do the same for type 2 diabetes. Thank you so much, Dr. Normatemba Chandiwana joining us. She's