Diabetes in the Muslim community

A snippet of diabetic news this week has greater implications regarding cross-cultural awareness of the disease. A nurse in New Zealand created an advice poster for muslim diabetics during Ramadan. The poster is circulating Muslim communities throughout Auckland, and has been posted on the Internet.
The nurse, Naomi Van Der Meurwe, is surprised and pleased with the reaction to her poster. She said: “The poster provides key recommendations for the management of people with diabetes during Ramadan to other health professionals.” The poster was titled Fasting During Ramadan.
Muslim people who have diabetes are exempt from fasting during Ramada, yet some still fast, endangering the control of their disease and their health. One Islamic website said: “fasting during Ramadan by a Muslim diabetic patient is neither his right nor Islamic obligatio, but only a privilege to be allowed by his physician, at the patient’s request, knowing all the dangers and assuming full responsibility in dietary compliance and glucose monitoring, with good communication between the physician and the patient.”
Spreading health awareness throughout different communities needs culturally sensitive information of this type.