Nahdi, the largest 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), which was held in Vancouver, Canada. Organized annually by the International Diabetes Federation, the meeting will bring 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. Over the recent years, the major burden of this epidemic is increasingly impacting low and medium-income countries, highlighting the importance for diabetes education. Commenting on Nahdi's participation in the congress to introduce the company's success story, 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" program 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 program, which is organized in cooperation with the Joslin Diabetes Centre, a teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School. She said 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 programs about diabetes. 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 program'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 program. Rates for diabetics following special diets went up from 4.3% to 33.2%, while the number of physically active patients increased from 5.3% to 22.8%, according to the results. In terms of disease management, 50% of diabetics enrolled in the program feel more confident about their ability to manage the disease in a better way." Nahdi trained 61 of its pharmacists as Diabetes Educators certified by the Ministry of Health.
