By Bright Zhou
Zimbabwe Diabetes Association (ZDA) has urged various church leaders in Zaka to infuse religion and science in the fight against Diabetes during a Bishop Say Workshop on Diabetes held in Zaka recently.
Speaking during the workshop where about 60 leaders from different churches were in attendance, ZDA vice president Bishop Jeremiah Matenhese said they had realized the gap between religion and science was growing at the cost of general public and needed to be addressed as a matter of urgency to fight health challenges in the country.
“This workshop has been necessitated by a growing gap between religion and science which is growing at the cost of general public, we realize that there is need to close this gap by allowing religion and science to work together through a coordinated approach to the health challenges of our nation,” said Matenhese.
Matenhese said it was the first time for the organization to hold such a workshop where ZDA educated church leaders with the necessary information on prevention and management of Diabetes.
“This is the first workshop of its kind in Zimbabwe where ZDA has decided to equip leaders of churches with the necessary knowledge to ensure that the message of prevention and management can be effectively delivered to the generality of Zimbabweans,” said Matenhese.
Matenhese added that people should realize that religion is an important factor in the fight for a healthy nation and added that the organization was excited with the response from churches and the Ministry of Health and Childcare.
“It is important to realize that the religious sector and health ministry are equal forces, partners in the fight for the health of the nation and we are quite pleased by the response from the churches and efforts of the health ministry in this training,” said Matenhese.
Matenhese said the workshop covered various topics to do with diabetes including causes, signs and symptoms, management of diabetes among others.
“We covered some interesting topics including causes of diabetes, signs and symptoms of diabetes, management of diabetes and counseling, the lectures are going through all what we can regard as key in the management of diabetes,” said Matenhese.
He said without the proper statistics of diabetes, they cannot tell its prevalence but from what was on the ground the diabetes prevalence is so high, he added that this can raise the alarm to those who are concerned to play a role to prevent diabetes.
“Without proper statistics we might not be able to tell its prevalence but from what is on the table, the prevalence of diabetes is so high and this should raise an alarm to all those who are concerned to come on board in the prevention campaign to ensure that we create a healthy, happy, peaceful Zimbabwe,” said Matenhese.
Matenhese said many families suffered from Diabetes and high blood pressure and this has an emotional impact on the population
“Many families are under attack, in a group of ten people in Zimbabwe eight of them are on medication for diabetes or high blood pressure and that is becoming a lifestyle with its complications manner. You can imagine the emotional impact it is having on the population,” said Matenhese.
It is the mandate of the government of Zimbabwe to have awareness campaigns to save the health of many. Many people are living in frustration because of the impact of diabetes on their daily wellbeing.
