Children as young as ten years were having Type Two Diabetes – Dr Dzradosi

Dr. Marc Kwame Dzradosi, Head of Pharmaceutical Services at the International Maritime Hospital (IMaH) has revealed that children as young as ten years were having Type Two Diabetes due to obesity.

He stressed that when parents give their children high-calorie foods and force them to overeat, they would become obese and grow into adults with obesity.

Dr. Dzradosi stated at the weekly “Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility,” a Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office initiative aimed at promoting communication on health-related and setting the medium for the propagation of health information to influence personal health choices by improving health literacy.

“Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility! is a public health advocacy platform initiated by the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office to explore the parameters of the four approaches to health communication: informative, educating, persuasive, and prompting.

Speaking on the topic: “Obesity” Dr. Dzradosi, who is also a Clinical Lecturer at the Central University, and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) noted that obesity was on the rise in Ghana, indicating that some of the effects of being obese included hypertension, stroke, diabetes, depression, mental illness, joint problem, cancers, and cardiovascular diseases among others.

“The heart handles a certain weight of your body, so the more weight you gain, the more pressure you put on your heart,” he stressed.

The IMaH Head of Pharmaceutical Services, therefore, cautioned parents and guardians against forcing children to eat large portions of food than their stomachs can take.

He explained that forcing children to eat beyond what their stomachs could contain could lead to obesity and its associated health issues.

Dr. Dzradosi said because their stomach was small, it accepts and digest the quantity it could take leaving the rest to form fat deposits in the body.

“Now we see children aged between four and five, but their weight is like that of a ten-year-old,” he said adding that “we are also seeing children with heart burns since the stomach reject the excess food which then rushes upwards, others are also having stomach problems.”

Mr. Francis Ameyibor, Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Manager noted that health issues are non-negotiable and appealed for concerted efforts to create a healthy lifestyle.

He stressed the need for collective responsibility toward fulfilling healthy living, “you must be the first person to protect your health, let us be conscious of issues that may endanger our life work and people around us”.

Mr. Ameyibor explained that GNA-Tema Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility is a public health advocacy platform created to explore the parameters of the four approaches to health communication: informative, educating, persuasive, and prompting.

He said the GNA through the weekly health dialogue platform serves as an effective communication channel for health professionals to educate the public on healthy practices and other general health challenges.

Mr. Ameyibor said it also seeks to create active two-way media advocacy channels for healthcare professionals to communicate promotional health information through which to disseminate public health issues and health education.

-CDA Consult II Contributor