A recent survey conducted by Health Foundation shows that only 47% diabetics manage their diabetes on their own. The rest, 53%, are mainly dependent on women — mothers, wives or sisters — for managing their diet, medication and even for visiting the doctors. The survey was conducted on 500 families living in Delhi.

“The findings are significant. It highlights the role of women in the family and stresses the fact that women should be the nodal point for all the awareness and prevention campaigns. Their role is indispensable when it comes to managing lifestyle diseases like diabetes,” said Dr Anoop Misra, chairman, National Diabetes, Obesity and Cholesterol Foundation. He added that women themselves are the worst-sufferers

when it comes to lifestyle diseases. Misra said that educating the women will help in improving their own health and the overall health of the family.

R Shankar, president, Heal Foundation said the focused group survey included people largely from educated background. “The mean age of the patients was around 45 years and they were mostly enrolled under some program promoting diabetes awareness. The figures can be worse for rural areas and for the twotier cities,” said Shankar.