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World
Facing Diabetes Catastrophe
Excerpt
By Emelia Sithole, Reuters Health
More
than 300 million people worldwide are at risk of developing diabetes
and the disease's economic impact in some hard-hit countries could
be higher than that of the AIDS pandemic, diabetes experts warned.
In a report released at the International
Diabetes Federation conference in Paris, experts estimate the
annual healthcare costs of diabetes worldwide for people aged
20 to 79 are at least $153 billion.
"In some countries with a higher
incidence, diabetes has a higher economic impact than AIDS," Williams
Rhys, professor of clinical epidemiology at the University of
Wales, told a news conference.
According to the Diabetes Atlas
report, total direct healthcare spending on the disease worldwide
will be between $213 billion and $396 billion by 2025,
if predictions are correct that the number of people with diabetes
will rise to 333 million by 2025 from 194 million.
Diabetes occurs in two basic forms:
type I, which occurs in children and adolescents and accounts
for five-10 percent of all diabetes cases, and the more common
type II, or adult onset diabetes.
Patients with type I diabetes do
not produce enough insulin while those with type II produce insulin
but cannot use it effectively. Adult onset diabetes can often
be prevented or controlled in its early stages with careful diet
and exercise, but patients often need a range of drugs to control
it.
Diabetes can lead to blindness,
kidney failure, heart disease, disability and death.
HEALTHIER FOODS
More than 75 percent of diabetes
cases are expected to be in developing countries by 2025 because
of rapid culture and social changes as well as increasing urbanization.
This is expected to further burden healthcare systems already
stretched by the AIDS pandemic.
"What AIDS was in the last 20 years
of the 20th century, diabetes is going to be in the first 20 years
of this century," said Paul Zimmet, foundation director of the
International Diabetes Institute.
Zimmet and other experts say the
diabetes epidemic will be fueled by an estimated 314 million people
with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) or higher than normal blood
glucose levels -- a high risk condition for developing type II
diabetes.
They also warn that type II diabetes
was increasing in children and adolescents in many countries and
is linked to rising obesity. They urged food companies -- especially
those who make fast foods -- to produce healthier foods and governments
to set up national campaigns to combat diabetes.
"We are running out of time," IDF
President-elect Pierre Lefebvre warned during a news conference.
"If action is not taken now to
stop the rise in diabetes, there is a significant risk that governments
and social security systems may fail to ensure the appropriate
care to the millions who will be affected by diabetes in 2025,"
he said.
Reference
Source 89
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