The theme for World Health Day 2016 is Diabetes, a non-communicable disease that directly impacts millions of people globally.
Advertisement
According to a new alarming report released by the World Health Organization, diabetes has become a global issue that disproportionally affects poorer nations.
Furthermore, over 400 million adults live with diabetes, a number likely to double in the next 20 years.
“As the world’s waistlines have ballooned, with one-in-three people now overweight, so too has the number of diabetes cases”, says the BBC’s health editor, James Gallagher.
Even though we have the tools to prevent and treat it, diabetes now causes some 1.5 million deaths a year.
The agency adds deaths attributed to diabetes rose to 1.5 million in 2012, and that an additional 2.2 million were caused by high blood glucose increasing the risks for cardivascular and other types of diseases.
“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”, said Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General.
“Initiatives such as the Health Star Rating is a great example of how to educate people to make healthier choices”. No country had a major drop in diabetes rates, the study authors said. GP patient data shows us that 4.05 million people in the United Kingdom are now diagnosed with diabetes. Doctors are seeing an alarming increase in childhood type 2 diabetes, again attributed to diet and lifestyle.
Although the World Health Organization recommends that adults aged 18-65 get at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week, worldwide figures from 2010 showed that almost a quarter of people over the age of 18 didn’t meet the minimum required amount of physical activity. It said most people living with diabetes have type 2, a long-term condition characterized by insulin resistance and associated with obesity and other lifestyle factors that emerge in adults and increasingly among children.
In 1948, the WHO held the First World Health Assembly which made a decision to celebrate April 7 of each year, with effect from 1950, as the World Health Day.
The Geneva-based agency blamed growing consumption of food and beverages high in sugar for the increase in diabetes. The largest increases in rates were in Pacific island nations, followed by the Middle East and North Africa.
Advertisement
“There is a critical window for intervention to mitigate the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes later in life”, the report said.
