On the occasion of World Health Day 2016, United Nations health agency has revealed in a new report that the number of people with diabetes quadrupled during the last quarter of a century.
The World Health Organization’s Global report on diabetes says globally, an estimated 422 million adults were living with diabetes in 2014, compared to 108 million in 1980.
The global prevalence (age-standardized) of diabetes has nearly doubled since 1980, rising from 4.7% to 8.5% in the adult population, the WHO said Wednesday.
“This reflects an increase in associated risk factors such as being overweight or obese. Over the past decade, diabetes prevalence has risen faster in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries.”
The report warns of risks as well as recommends ways to prevent the disease.
![By Victovoi (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.viewsnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Obesity-waist_circumference_svg.png)
By Victovoi (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
WHO notes that diabetes is a chronic, progressive noncommunicable disease characterized by elevated levels of blood glucose (blood sugar). It occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough of the insulin hormone, which regulates blood sugar, or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces, the UN explained in a news release.
“If we are to make any headway in halting the rise in diabetes, we need to rethink our daily lives: to eat healthily, be physically active, and avoid excessive weight gain,” says Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General, who adds that even in the poorest settings, governments must ensure that people are able to make these healthy choices and that health systems are able to diagnose and treat people with diabetes.
Recommending a healthy lifestyle, WHO lists some key measures needed to tackle the disease including expanding health-promoting environments to reduce diabetes risk factors, like physical inactivity and unhealthy diets, and strengthening national capacities to help people with diabetes receive the treatment and care they need to manage their conditions
Some factors driving this dramatic rise include overweight and obesity.
In 2012 alone diabetes caused 1.5 million deaths. Its complications can lead to heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney failure and lower limb amputation.
According to the executive summary, the report calls upon governments to ensure that people are able to make healthy choices and that health systems are able to diagnose, treat and care for people with diabetes. It encourages us all as individuals to eat healthily, be physically active, and avoid excessive weight gain.
The report notes that the “political basis for concerted action to address diabetes is there, woven into the Sustainable Development Goals, the United Nations Political Declaration on NCDs, and the WHO NCD Global Action Plan. Where built upon, these foundations will catalyze action by all.”
WHO also lists a series of measures that may raise awareness and build capacities of countries to deal with diabetes.
“There are no simple solutions for addressing diabetes but coordinated, multicomponent intervention can make a significant difference. Everyone can play a role in reducing the impact of all forms of diabetes. Governments, health-care providers, people with diabetes, civil society, food producers and manufacturers and suppliers of medicines and technology are all stakeholders. Collectively, they can make a significant contribution to halt the rise in diabetes and improve the lives of those living with the disease.”
