KUWAIT CITY, Jan 2: Pediatrician Dr. Doa’a Al-Essa revealed an increase in the incidence of type 1 diabetes in children, indicating that the causes of infection are varied, including genetic, environmental, or weak immune systems in children after exposure to colds or intestinal infections, reports Al- Anba daily.

This came in a statement on the sidelines of the awareness exhibition organized by the Kuwaiti Board of Pediatrics to raise awareness of diabetes, sponsored by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences, in celebration of Science Month. Dr. Al-Essa explained that a child with type 1 diabetes is a normal child in the end, and must live a normal life and not be prevented from anything, realizing that the child’s immune system fights the cells that make insulin in the pancreas, and that is why the child needs insulin throughout life.

Awareness
She went on to say, “We wanted to raise awareness of type 1 diabetes in children, which is the type that is widespread and it is noticeable that it is increasing in our hospitals, and that parents suffer from a lack of information about dealing with this disease, and for this we decided, as a group of doctors with some of the students of the Faculty of Medicine, to raise the level of diabetes awareness and that the parents take the child to the doctor if they feel their child may be suffering from this disease.

Dr. Al-Essa went on to say, ‘”In addition to this, we organized a variety of activities for children, as we wanted, if the parents received awareness and education, to take care of the children through useful activities such as drawing and some recreational games.”

She stressed the need for parents to know that the child can live a normal life, but there are matters and obligations that they must adhere to, as there is a specific amount of sugar in the foods that the child eats. About the latest treatments for a child with diabetes, she said: The first type of sugar has a treatment, which is insulin, and the method of giving it is with needles at the beginning, and if the child is committed and the parents have the ability to calculate carbohydrates, then it can change after 6 months from needles to a pump, and there is a great scientific development such as a gene therapy that has not reached us yet, as it is being presented at international conferences.