In May 2002 the Associated Press reported on a statement made by Dr. Mehmood Khan, a consultant in the Mayo Clinic’s Division of Endocrinology that “a growing number of Somali immigrants are developing [Type 2 diabetes] within five years, and some as quickly as six months, after their arrival in this country.” Dr. Khan attributed the phenomenon to a lack of exercise and a dramatic increase in fat and calories experienced by Somali immigrants (Associated Press, 2002).
In Seattle, a medical librarian reported that some of the young Somali men who came to the library expressed concern about diabetes. They had observed that many young men like themselves have been diagnosed and reported that some think it is just American medicine making up diseases and so they don't take the diagnosis seriously. Similarly, men in the diabetes project thought that people with diabetes are not “really sick.”
During a discussion among a half dozen Somali women participating in a review of education materials about diabetes, one woman stated that problems such as asthma, diabetes, and sleeping disorders were not common (in Somalia), and that she had never heard of diabetes occurring in anyone except old people in Somalia. In addition, the women in this project believed that diabetes happens more in the U.S. because in Somalia farmers sweat and are very active. They define the disease as one which causes tiredness, sleepiness, frequent urination and for which there is no cure. They did not believe that diabetes is a genetic disease for it is God who determines its occurrence. The women understood that the diabetes medicine comes from the doctors, but that God dictates whether or not the medicine will help. Most of the women knew what type of diabetes they had.***
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https://ethnomed.org/clinical/diabe...on-and-recommendations-for-diabetes-educators
Diabetes in the Somali community in Norway
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4897676/
Minnesota
http://masons.umn.edu/research/diabetes-somali-community
In Seattle, a medical librarian reported that some of the young Somali men who came to the library expressed concern about diabetes. They had observed that many young men like themselves have been diagnosed and reported that some think it is just American medicine making up diseases and so they don't take the diagnosis seriously. Similarly, men in the diabetes project thought that people with diabetes are not “really sick.”
During a discussion among a half dozen Somali women participating in a review of education materials about diabetes, one woman stated that problems such as asthma, diabetes, and sleeping disorders were not common (in Somalia), and that she had never heard of diabetes occurring in anyone except old people in Somalia. In addition, the women in this project believed that diabetes happens more in the U.S. because in Somalia farmers sweat and are very active. They define the disease as one which causes tiredness, sleepiness, frequent urination and for which there is no cure. They did not believe that diabetes is a genetic disease for it is God who determines its occurrence. The women understood that the diabetes medicine comes from the doctors, but that God dictates whether or not the medicine will help. Most of the women knew what type of diabetes they had.***
*
https://ethnomed.org/clinical/diabe...on-and-recommendations-for-diabetes-educators
Diabetes in the Somali community in Norway
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4897676/
Minnesota
http://masons.umn.edu/research/diabetes-somali-community
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it's literally just sugar and oil.
