Segundo Seclén: “There are almost 65% of people with overweight and obesity” | INTERVIEW

At El Comercio we continue with our series of interviews with relevant people from the Peruvian science and research. The excerpt presented below is part of the second season of the podcast series “Peruvian Minds”, Where we will seek to know what is behind Peruvian scientists, researchers and experts from different disciplines.

Dr. Segundo Seclén has dedicated a large part of his life to research on endocrine diseases. In dialogue with Trade, warned about the little interest of the authorities in attending to the needs of patients with diabetes and obesity, especially

– How do you evaluate the handling of the pandemic in Peru?

Recently, as we all know, the number of deaths in Peru has been revealed. This situation has been handled very badly in 2020. The diagnoses made with rapid tests were not very useful to isolate infected people and we found a collapsed health system. Currently, . In the studies that we have done with my work group, we found that

“If we put more effort into meeting these standards, we could solve a lot of our problems.”

– During the pandemic, the death toll from chronic diseases has continued to rise, right?

That’s true. Mortality is being counted in figures, but it is not distinguished that half of that population, or has died because their diabetes, your hypertension, heart attacks, or other cardiovascular problems. Actually, this state of permanent stress due to the disease in which the population has been has not been attended to. This reveals that what is really required is a reengineering of the system. What must be done is to reinforce the entire system as it is managed, for example, in Spain: each community has its health center and its doctors, so that people can receive immediate care. That is what has been lacking in this epidemic.

– Why most people do not consider obesity, diabetes and other endocrine diseases to be careful?

In Peru, in recent years, the percentage of the population that has gone from normal weight to overweight and obesity has increased tremendously. There is a survey carried out by the INEI [Encuesta Demográfica y de Salud Familiar, Endes], which has shown that,. In other words, obesity and being overweight are the general triggers of these chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, cancers. Obviously, this responds to the fact that there is no food policy, which allows guiding people on how to eat correctly. The vast majority consume up to 80% carbohydrates at meals. Currently, many fast foods have entered, which are high in calories and carbohydrates, and therefore all that nonsense of having an educated population in relation to how to eat well is what is producing the high rates of overweight and obesity in the country.

– Although the conditions of the pandemic have changed [con más personas vacunadas]What should patients with diabetes and obesity expect for the next few years?

There are two laws that should serve as elements to solve this situation, in pandemic conditions. On the one hand, the law for the protection of patients with diabetes [28553], which was enacted in 2005 and so far does not even have a regulation. This law orders the creation of a national program of diabetes and morbid diseases, which raises a reduction in the tax on drugs used to treat diabetes. However, it is not a drug that is available to the entire population. On the other hand, the healthy eating law [30021] It has given a deadline for the industries to reduce the amount of sugar, salt, refined flour, which is not being carried out correctly. If we made an effort to adhere to these standards, we could solve many of these problems.

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