That’s 8.5 percent of the population. The amount is quite substantial with a total number of 422 million people affected in 2014 compared to 108 million in 1980.
Advertisement
The Diabetes Association of Thailand, in an interesting awareness campaign, commissioned Thai designer Nattakong Jaengsem to come up with a series that will make people think twice before gobbling up that brownie.
Engaging in regular physical activity, eating a healthy diet and proper use of medication are important for controlling diabetes, the agency said.
People need to eat more healthily, exercise more and avoid excessive weight gain to halt a global epidemic of diabetes, says the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO report stopped short of any drastic new recommendations, suggesting for example that countries build political support and allocate resources for diabetes prevention, and “prioritize actions to prevent people becoming overweight and obese”.
Thus, WHO dedicated its annual World Health Day, which fell yesterday, April 7, to the mobilisation of resources globally to fight diabetes.
“The new 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”.
Obesity was among factors driving the dramatic rise, WHO announced ahead of World Health Day which was marked on Thursday.
WHO says the primary measures needed to reduce diabetes include the expansion of health-promoting environments, and adds nations must improve their capacities to help diabetics manage their conditions.
Diabetes caused 1.5 million deaths in 2012.
Two years ago, the WHO ranked diabetes as the eighth leading cause of death in the world. This year the theme of World Heath Day is “Beat Diabetes”.
The number of people living with diabetes and its prevalence are growing in all regions of the world. “Improvements in prevention and management, together with better surveillance, should be prioritised in response to this call”.
Advertisement
He pointed out having diabetes means an increased risk for a host of health problems, including kidney disease and limb amputation.
