Diabetes Epidemic out of Control

Diabetes Epidemic out of Control

December 04, 2006

    CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Dec. 4 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ --
The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) has published
new data indicating the enormity of the diabetes epidemic.
Data published today in the Federation's Diabetes Atlas
show that the disease now affects a staggering 246 million
people worldwide, with 46% of all those affected in the
40-59 age group. Previous figures underestimated the scope
of the problem, while even the most pessimistic predictions
fell short of the current figure. The new data predict that
the total number of people living with diabetes will
skyrocket to 380 million within twenty years if nothing is
done.

    At today's press conference in Cape Town, IDF President
Pierre Lefebvre told reporters, "Just twenty years ago,
the best information available suggested that 30 million
people had diabetes. A bleaker picture has now emerged.
Diabetes is fast becoming the epidemic of the 21st
century."

    Diabetes, mostly type 2 diabetes, now affects 5.9% of
the world's adult population with almost 80% of the total
in developing countries. The regions with the highest rates
are the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, where 9.2 %
of the adult population are affected, and North America
(8.4%). The highest numbers, however, are found in the
Western Pacific, where some 67 million people have
diabetes, followed by Europe with 53 million.

    India leads the global top ten in terms of the highest
number of people with diabetes with a current figure of
40.9 million, followed by China with 39.8 million. Behind
them come USA; Russia; Germany; Japan; Pakistan; Brazil;
Mexico and Egypt. Developing countries account for seven of
the world's top ten.

    According to IDF President-Elect Martin Silink,
"The diabetes time bomb has been ticking for 50 years,
and it's been getting louder. Despite the warning,
successive generations of world leaders have largely
ignored the threat. Diabetes has now exploded with the
force felt greatest in the Middle East, India, China and
the USA."

    Lifestyles in transition

    A complex interplay of genetic, social and
environmental factors is driving the global explosion in
type 2 diabetes. For low and middle-income countries,
economic advancement can lead to alterations to the living
environment that result in changes in diet and physical
activity within a generation or two. Consequently, people
can develop diabetes despite relatively low gains in
weight. In the developed world, diabetes is most common
among the poorest communities. Either way, wherever poverty
and lack of sanitation drive families to low
cost-per-calorie foods and packaged drinks, type 2 diabetes
thrives.

    Diabetes is deadly. It accounts for 3.8 million deaths
per year, similar in magnitude to HIV/AIDS. Once thought of
as a disease of the elderly, diabetes has shifted down a
generation to affect people of working age, particularly in
developing countries. This has economic consequences. As IDF
Vice-President Jean-Claude Mbanya puts it, "This
epidemic is responsible for so much suffering and loss of
life, yet so little is being done to tackle it. Where
growing economies like India and China lead, many will soon
follow. Doing nothing in the face of the epidemic will place
significant stress on the economic development of many
countries and will jeopardize the Millennium Development
Goals."

    A United Nations Resolution

    The International Diabetes Federation leads a coalition
of diabetes representative organizations and other
stakeholders demanding a United Nations Resolution on
diabetes to ensure that adequate attention is given to the
disease. For a country like the Pacific Island nation of
Nauru, a UN Resolution cannot come soon enough. Nauru tops
the list of countries with the highest prevalence of
diabetes. Almost a third of the entire population live with
diabetes and its consequences.

    The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) is an
organization of over 190 member associations in more than
150 countries. Its mission is to promote diabetes care,
prevention and a cure worldwide. IDF leads the campaign for
a UN Resolution on diabetes. See
http://www.unitefordiabetes.org .

    The Diabetes Atlas provides up-to-date estimates of
diabetes prevalence and impaired glucose tolerance, and
health expenditures for more than 200 countries for the
years 2007 and 2025. See http://www.eatlas.idf.org/media
for relevant graphics and background materials.

    For more information, please contact:

     Delice Gan 
     Special Projects Manager
     The International Diabetes Federation  
     Tel:   [phone] 
            [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]

SOURCE  International Diabetes Federation