Diabetes and depression in Africa: Causality, relationship and clinical implications.

The public health threats posed by diabetes and depression individually have been well emphasised globally. However, it is increasingly important to understand these diseases' causes, relationships, and implications in comorbid states. Depression, anxiety, and diabetes are the top 10 causes of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in countries worldwide. Several reports have also suggested depression to occur two to three times more frequently in people with diabetes mellitus; with the majority of the cases remaining under-diagnosed, the causes and relationship remain rather complex and understudied. Although the exact link between depression and diabetes is yet to be detailed, quite a number of studies have supported that there is a bidirectional relationship between diabetes and depression. As Pieces of evidence, theories and reports continue to shed more light on the cause and relationship between these two conditions, its implications remain understudied, especially in low-middle-income settings. This commentary draws out the need for intentional screening for depressive symptoms in diabetic patients as early as possible from the implications of its neglect. It is, however, recommended that in the management of diabetes mellitus, emphasis should also be placed on depression as a co-morbidity, just as certain other disease conditions like hypertension and dyslipidaemia are considered.

Pharmacoeconomics in Africa: needs, prospect and challenges.

Africa as a continent has experienced a continuous increase in the cost of healthcare as its demands increase. With many of these African countries living below the poverty threshold, Africans continue to die from preventable and curable diseases. Population increases have led to an increase in demands for healthcare, which unfortunately have been met with inequitable distribution of drugs. Hence, the outcomes from healthcare interventions are frequently not maximized. These problems notably call for some economic principles and policies to guide medication selection, procurement, or donation for population prioritization or health insurance. Pharmacoeconomics drives efficient use of scarce or limited resources to maximize healthcare benefits and reduce costs. It also brings to play tools that rate therapy choice based on the quality of life added to the patient after a choice of intervention was made over an alternative. In this paper, we commented on the needs, prospect, and challenges of pharmacoeconomics in Africa.