Jordan Times
Sunday, September 5, 1999
Insulin campaign starts, targets 6,000 children
By Suha Ma'ayeh
AMMAN — Around 6,000 children under the age of 15 are to benefit from a nationwide campaign that will enable them to acquire free-of-charge insulin injections, Health Minister Ishaq Maraqa said on Saturday.
The campaign, which kicked off on Friday, aims to register the names of diabetic children at health centres across the country, to make them eligible for insulin shots.
Co-sponsored by the Health Ministry and the National Centre for Endocrine and Genetic Diseases, the programme is designed to cover roughly 6,000 ailing youngsters.
Maraqa said his ministry was conducting surveys in coordination with the Royal Medical Services as well as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, to tap potential beneficiaries.
“Children who fall in the age group of one day to 15 years will be registered in public hospitals in order to obtain a treatment card for free insulin vials,” Maraqa added.
Maraqa said children will be able to obtain the vials once they show their identities to the original centre to avoid overlap of dispersion.
The minister estimated the insulin shots' cost at JD125,000.
Children over 15 years of age can purchase the vials from the public sector at cost price.
Insulin vials are sold at a minimum of JD14 in the private sector and at JD5 in public outlets.
Doctors say that diabetic children on average need two insulin shots a month.
Kamel Ajlouni, head of the NCEGD said that registration is open to the less- privileged segments of the society and those who can afford to pay.
Ajlouni said the campaign has a dual benefit as it is also a precautionary measure to cure diabetes in its early stages before it aggravates into kidney failure.
“The nationwide programme aims to reduce inevitable expenditure at later stages should the diabetes be left untreated.”
A study conducted by the NCEGD between 1992 and 1996 showed that the rate of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus among Jordanian children varied between 2.8 for every 100,000 in 1992 and 3.6 for every 100,000 in 1996.
The study which examined children between 0-14 years, has a male/female ratio of 1 to 1.03.
A total of 275 new cases of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus were reported during the four-year period needed to conduct the study.
The highest incidence rate of 5.5 per 100,000 was recorded among children between 10 to 14 years, while the lowest was 1.3 per 100,000 between the 0-4 age group.
Ajlouni said that nearly 25 per cent of the 4.8 million population are afflicted with the second type of diabetes caused by dietary habits. It is known as partial disturbance of beta cells, which excrete insulin to metabolise sugar in the blood.
Figures released last year from the Geneva-based World Health Organisation showed that worldwide, 40 million people are diabetic. The figures are expected to reach 300 million by the year 2025.