PREVALENCE OF DIABETES MELLITUS TYPE 1 AMONG CHILDREN IN MAJMA'AH PRIMARY SCHOOLS, 2017

Background: Diabetes Mellitus is one of the most common chronic metabolic disorder that has huge impact on health of patients, consequences on the social life and economic burden on countries. There is no permanent cure for the type 1 diabetes mellitus up to this time. As there is serious short-term and long-term implications and huge consequences on the government there should be steps towards educating the community to minimize the impacts. To improve quality of life diabetic children have during school or outside the school there must be education about the disease and the ways its managed to reduce or prevent complications. Diabetic ketoacidosis is a life threatening condition that has been increasing and this could be contributed to the lack of awareness about the presentation of diabetes. We need to increase the education about the disease and the ways it is managed to reduce or prevent such complication. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study conducted between April 2017-June 2017 to measure the prevalence of diabetes mellitus type 1 among children in Majmaah primary schools. It involves pre-tested, pre-coded, questionnaire which was analyzed by using the SPSS version 23. Results: A high prevalence of diabetes was shown in the primary schools of Majmaah 2017 with combined shortage of medical services provided during school hours. 83% of schools have no health care units and 94% of teachers were aware about diabetes. Conclusion: There is high prevalence of type 1 diabetes mellitus among the primary school children, and most of the teachers were aware of the disease and its symptoms. Appropriate programs and healthcare services needed to be introduced in the schools to achieve the maximum care to diabetic children. Recommandation : There should be an integration between the school and Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education to improve the health care services in the schools and prepare courses to the teachers to increase their awareness regarding type 1 DM.