Sukinda, Nov 25: Tata Steel Foundation has taken up initiatives to facilitate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary for optimal diabetes self-care and incorporate the needs, goals, and life experiences of the person with diabetes along with identification of the same in the Sukinda region.

Diabetes prevention and management has been taken up as a focus area as diabetes is a lifestyle related disease and one of the major contributors of death amongst the four major non-communicable diseases prevalent in India.

As part of the initiatives, diabetes counselling and screening session was hosted recently in four villages of Kansa panchayat of the area. As many as 227 people were screened out of which 28 people were found diabetic through random blood sugar test and past medical history as well as ongoing clinical features. Counselling was done and medication is being provided for next three months after which they will undergo a second round of check-up.

During the counselling, 67 people were having pre-diabetic conditions for whom the medical experts provided instructions on leading a healthy lifestyle. Their condition will be monitored for three months with the ultimate goal to reduce the condition completely. There are plans to conduct more such counselling sessions in the coming days, reaching out to 800 people in the area. The Sukinda unit of Tata Steel Foundation has been taking up lots of initiatives to provide healthcare services to people in the area. The plan is to create awareness among the community and organise small-scale screenings linked with follow-up treatment for individuals.