With over 315 million people world-wide are living with diabetes, World Diabetes Day 2010 is being observed on November 14 (Sunday) in Pakistan like other parts of the world with a pledge to make all out efforts for creation of health society.
The World Diabetes Day campaign is led by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and its member associations. It engages millions of people world-wide in diabetes advocacy and awareness. World Diabetes Day was created in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organisation in response to growing concerns about the escalating health threat that diabetes now poses. World Diabetes Day became an official United Nations Day in 2007 with the passage of United Nation Resolution 61/225.
With each year another 7 million people develop diabetes, the number of people living with diabetes is expected to grow to 350 million in next few years. Diabetes is increasing faster in the world's developing economies than in developed countries, health professionals told Business Recorder.
According to them, seven out of ten countries with the highest number of people living with diabetes are in the developing world. As per IDF prediction, by 2025, almost 80 percent of all diabetes cases will be in low-and middle-income countries. If nothing is done, diabetes will place severe economic, social and health burdens on the countries that can least afford it. The disease threatens to subvert the gains of economic advancement.
They said: "Diabetes is emerging fast as one of the biggest health catastrophes the world has ever seen. The diabetes epidemic will overwhelm healthcare resources everywhere if governments do not wake up and take action now." Health professionals maintained that diabetes is one of the major causes of premature death world-wide. Every 10 seconds a person dies from diabetes-related causes. The death rates are predicted to rise by 25 percent over the next decade.
According to the World Health Organisation, the disease could reduce life expectancy globally for the first time in 200 years. They said: "Diabetes can be effectively managed, its impact reduced and its onset in many cases prevented completely. Some 80 percent of type 2 diabetes is preventable by improving the living environment. This includes dietary changes and increased physical activity. Type 1 diabetes (insulin dependent), however, is not preventable. It predominantly affects youth and is rising alarmingly world-wide at a rate of 3 percent per year.
It may be noted that the year 2010 marks the second year of the five-year focus on 'Diabetes education and prevention", the theme selected by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organisation for World Diabetes Day 2009-2013. The campaign slogan is: "Let's take control of diabetes. Now."
They said the warning signs of diabetes are: frequent urination, excessive thirst, increased hunger, weight loss, tiredness, lack of interest and concentration, vomiting and stomach pain (often mistaken as the flu), a tingling sensation or numbness in the hands or feet, blurred vision, frequent infections and slow-healing wounds.
They said there were many risk factors for type 2 diabetes. They include: Obesity and overweight, lack of exercise, previously identified glucose intolerance, unhealthy diet, increased age, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, a family history of diabetes, a history of gestational diabetes and ethnicity - higher rates of diabetes have been reported in Asians, According to them, diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death by disease globally; diabetes is the leading cause of blindness and visual impairment in adults in developed countries.
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