Diabetes statistics in Africa shows a 525% rise in 34 years – WHO report

On this year’s World Health Day, which focuses on diabetes, the global health body, World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that there has been a dramatic rise in worldwide diabetes cases over the past three decades, but with Africa region unenviably topping the table, with a 525% rise in 34 years.

According to data gleaned from a report by WHO Africa Region (WHOAFRO), the number of people living with diabetes in African region has risen sharply from 4 million in 1980 to 25 million in 2014.

With the theme of the 2016 world health day as: “Be active. Beat Diabetes,” the WHO says an estimated 422 million adults today live with diabetes globally.

The World Health Day 2016 focuses on diabetes & three keys to beating it: Eat healthy, be active, follow medical advice.

Diabetes melllitus describes a group of metabolic diseases in which the person has high blood glucose (blood sugar), either because insulin production is inadequate, or the body’s cells do respond properly to insulin, or both. Patients with high blood glucose would typically experience polyuria (frequent urination), they would become increasingly thirsty (polydipsia) and hungry (polyphagia).

The UN secretary general Ban-Ki Moon urges all to halt steep rise in diabetes.

Health experts, while commenting on the WHOAFRO official twitter handle gave solution tips on what prophylactic measures people can take to prevent them from having Diabetes Mellitus, as well as managing those who have come down with the eternal disease.

Sabrina Getrude said: “having a proper balanced diet meal and regular exercise, regular health check up, I hope can help to do away with diabetes.”

For Judith Shamian, “we do not do enough in preparing healthcare professionals to do health promotion and education with diabetes and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs).”

Novo Nordisk said, “Enabling health care staff to recognize signs of diabetes is vital to secure better lives for kids with diabetes.”

Health professionals have listed risk factors for the most common type of diabetes to include, overweight/ obesity, physical inactivity and family history.

As a result, they counsel people, especially adults to “stay super. Be active. Combined with regular physical activity, a healthy diet is essential to effectively manage all types of diabetes.”

Meanwhile, the Harvard Public Health says these healthy habits can prevent 80% percent of heart attacks and 90% of type 2 diabetes cases.

WHO is also calling for “action on diabetes.” Let’s show the world what we can achieve!” the world health body said.

It said on Diabetes: 43% of all deaths due to high blood glucose occur before the age of 70.

On the occasion of World Health Day 2016, WHO issued a call for action on diabetes, drawing attention to the need to step up prevention and treatment of the disease.

The first WHO Global report on diabetes demonstrates that the number of adults living with diabetes has almost quadrupled since 1980 to 422 million adults. Factors driving this dramatic rise include overweight and obesity.

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. It encourages us all as individuals to eat healthily, be physically active, and avoid excessive weight gain.

Diabetes is a chronic, metabolic disease characterized by elevated levels of blood glucose (or blood sugar), which leads over time to serious damage to the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, and nerves. The most common is type 2 diabetes, usually in adults, which occurs when the body becomes resistant to insulin or doesn’t make enough insulin. In the past three decades the prevalence of type 2 diabetes has risen dramatically in countries of all income levels. Type 1 diabetes, once known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes, is a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin by itself. For people living with diabetes, access to affordable treatment, including insulin, is critical to their survival. There is a globally agreed target to halt the rise in diabetes and obesity by 2025.

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