Free medical advice on diabetes offered today across Moldova

All the medical institutions in Moldova open their doors today on the World Diabetes Day to everyone so that they can get free medical advice on this disease, the Ministry of Health announced. In districts, diabetes will be screened in risk groups, which include in particular persons aged older than 45, who live a sedentary life, are overweighted, whose close relatives have or had diabetes, and women who gave birth to children weighing more than 4 kg. In Moldova, sugar diabetes accounts for roughly 50 percent of endocrine pathologies. At the beginning of this year there were over 49,000 persons with diabetes, including 395 children and 72 teenagers. In 2007 there were registered 6,800 new cases of diabetes. Those who suffer from Type 1 diabetes enjoy free insulin medication. The costs are covered by MoldDiab National Program. In 2008 the government allocated 17 million for such medication. The characteristic symptoms of diabetes are excessive urine production, excessive thirst and increased fluid intake, and blurred vision. Type 2 diabetes may go unnoticed for years because visible symptoms are typically mild, non-existent or sporadic. However, severe long-term complications can result from unnoticed type 2 diabetes, including renal failure and vascular diseases. The World Diabetes Day was introduced in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in response to the alarming rise in diabetes around the world. In 2007, the United Nations marked the Day for the first time with the passage of the United Nations World Diabetes Day Resolution in December 2006, which made the existing World Diabetes Day an official United Nations World Health Day.