BREAKING NEWS, Featured, Health
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The World Health Organisations says more people are suffering from diabetes as 422 million had the disease in 2014 compared to 108 million in 1980 with 3.7 million deaths recorded every year globally
| By Anayo Ezugwu | Apr 18, 2016 @ 01:00 GMT |
DIABETES is increasingly becoming a global concern as it now afflicts more people. According to the World Health Organisation, WHO, diabetes now affects nearly one out of 11 people. Available statistics showed that Diabetes cases had nearly quadrupled to 422 million in 2014 compared to 108 million cases recorded in 1980.
A recent report by WHO pointed out that high blood sugar levels are a major killer linked to 3.7 million deaths around the world each year and the number is will continue to increase unless drastic action was taken.
The report lumps both type 1 and type 2 diabetes together, but the surge in cases is predominantly down to type 2 the form closely linked to poor lifestyle. Etienne Krug, WHO official in charge of leading efforts against diabetes, said diabetes is a silent disease, but it is on an unrelenting march that needs to stop.
“We can stop it, we know what needs to be done, but we cannot let it evolve like it does because it has a huge impact on people’s health, on families and on society. Failing to control levels of sugar in the blood has devastating health consequences. It triples the risk of a heart attack and leaves people 20 times more likely to have a leg amputated, as well as increasing the risk of stroke, kidney failure, blindness and complications in pregnancy.”
Diabetes itself is the eighth biggest killer in the world, accounting for 1.5 million deaths each year. But a further 2.2 million deaths are linked to high blood sugar levels. In the 1980s the highest rates were found in affluent countries.
But, in a remarkable transformation, it is now low and middle income countries bearing the largest burden. Krug said, “That’s where we see the steepest increase. Knowing that’s where most of the population lives in the world, it does show numbers will continue to increase unless drastic action is taken.”
The Middle East has seen the prevalence of diabetes soar from 5.9 percent of adults in 1980 to 13.7 percent in 2014. Slim Slama, a WHO specialist in Middle East, said, “We are the region that has experienced the greatest rise in diabetes, moving from 6 million to 43 million – it is a huge, huge increase. In Qatar or Kuwait we have more than 20 percent of the population with diabetes and when you look at subgroups – people beyond 45 or 60 years old – it’s 30 to 40 percent and things are even more worrying.”
He said growing and ageing populations were behind part of the rise, but diet and inactivity were a major problem. He noted that more than three quarters of teenagers in the region are doing less than the recommended level of exercise.
The WHO report said the solution required the whole of society to act. “The ‘easy’ solution is for all of us to exercise, eat healthily and not gain excess weight – of course it’s not so easy.” The report called for governments to regulate the fat and sugar content of foods to ensure there were healthy options available to people. It added that better urban planning that encouraged people to cycle and walk was also essential.
And it also called on the food industry to act responsibly to ensure it reduced the fat and sugar content of foods, and to cease marketing unhealthy foods to young people. It is only by keeping blood sugar levels in check that the deadly complications of the disease can be contained.
But the report showed that two thirds of low income countries were not able to provide blood sugar monitors or drugs such as insulin or metformin for most people. “Two things are really worrisome about diabetes. One is that one-in-11 people today have diabetes. And the other is the lack of fairness. Today in most low income countries, people who have diabetes and need access to medicine and technology to manage it don’t have access to it,” the report said. – Yahoo News
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