The World Health Organization reports there were 422 million adults living with diabetes in 2014, a fourfold increase since 1980.
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Obesity rates have also been increasing worldwide, and in 2014, one in three adults were overweight and one in 10 people globally were obese, according to the WHO.
Diabetes is a chronic, progressive noncommunicable disease (NCD) characterized by elevated levels of blood glucose (blood sugar).
The Family Physician explained further that diabetes is of two types- the Type 1 and type 2 diabetes but children are susceptible to the type 1 diabetes while adults are at greater risk of the type 2 diabetes.
With one in 11 people suffering, diabetes is now the eighth biggest killer in the world, after heart disease, stroke and lung diseases.
“Even though we have the tools to prevent and treat it, diabetes now causes some 1.5 million deaths a year”. It estimates rates of diabetes for 200 countries after taking into account that diabetes becomes more common as a person ages and that some countries have older populations.
This announcement comes in commemoration of World Health Day, a global health awareness day celebrated every year on April 7, under the sponsorship of WHO.
“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.
“People with diabetes who depend on life-saving insulin pay the ultimate price when access to affordable insulin is lacking”.
The report called on “concerted action” from governments, healthcare providers, people with diabetes, civil society, food producers and manufacturers and suppliers of medicines and technology.
It is estimated that about 350 million people worldwide have diabetes, a number likely to more than double in the next 20 years.
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The organisation said in a statement that people need to reduce diabetes risk factors by expanding environments that promote health. “High blood glucose causes an additional 2.2 million deaths”, he noted.
