Nahdi, a major retail pharmacy chain in the Middle East and North Africa, presented the success story of its diabetes education and awareness programme “Ya Ana Ya Al Sukkary” at the World Diabetes Congress (WDC), held in Vancouver, Canada.

Organised annually by the International Diabetes Federation, the meeting (from November 30 to December 4) brought together more than 12,000 delegates, over 300 high-level speakers, and representatives from over 230 national diabetes associations from 170 countries and territories.

The congress unites the global diabetes community, providing an essential forum for the dissemination and promotion of leading scientific advances and knowledge on practical aspects related to diabetes care, education and advocacy.

Commenting on Nahdi’s participation in the congress, Engineer Hosam Alqurashi, vice president of marketing and external affairs at Nahdi, said: “We are proud to attend this vital conference to showcase our experience in educating the Saudi community on diabetes. Today, we are participating in this international congress as a community pharmacy which provides diabetic patients with free-of-charge educational services under the supervision of the Ministry of Health.

“The “Ya Ana Ya Al Sukkary” programme is one of Nahdi’s initiatives which seeks to educate the Saudi community about the disease and also aims at raising awareness on adopting healthy and active lifestyles to prevent diabetes and obesity,” he said.

Dr Sarah Turkistani, Head of Health and Community Service at Nahdi, talked about the success of the programme, which is organised in cooperation with the Joslin Diabetes Centre, a teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School. The prevalence of diabetes in Saudi Arabia is one of the highest in the Middle East, and the growing numbers of diabetics prompted the pressing need to create education and awareness programmes about diabetes, Dr Turkistani said.

Innovative methods have been introduced to educate patients about self-management and the importance of measuring glucose levels on daily basis.

Showcasing some of the programme’s results, Dr Turkistani said: “The designated Diabetes Resource Centres at Nahdi proved to be successful during the preliminary period, with results showing that 94% of diabetics started to regularly visit their doctors after enrolling in the programme. Rates for diabetics following special diets went up from 4.3 per cent to 33.2 per cent, while the number of physically active patients increased from 5.3 per cent to 22.8 per cent, according to the results.

Nahdi trained 61 of its pharmacists as diabetes educators certified by the Ministry of Health. The pharmacists were trained at the National Guard Hospital in Jeddah, King Abdul Aziz University’s Friends of Diabetic Patients Society in Jeddah, and King Sa'ud University's National Diabetes Centre. – TradeArabia News Service