ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has the highest adult population across the world suffering from diabetes.

This was stated by General Secretary Pakistan National Heart Association Sanaullah Ghumman while sharing the detail of prevalence of diabetes in different countries.

He said in Pakistan 30.8pc adult population was suffering from diabetes which was the highest number across the globe.

“The country which is second in line is Kuwait in which 24pc population has diabetes. Our neighbouring countries have much better numbers as in India 9.6pc, Iran 9.1pc, China 10.6 and Sri Lanka 11.3pc population has diabetes. Situation is much better in other countries, as compared to Pakistan, such as in United States 10.7pc, Turkey 14.5pc, Bangladesh 14.2pc, Saudi Arabia 18.7pc, Canada 7.7pc population was suffering with the disease,” he said.

Mr Ghumman urged the government to take steps to control the disease so that Pakistan could have a healthy nation.

President Pakistan National Heart Association General ® Masuood Ur Rehman Kiani, in a statement, said that while Pakistan’s Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel was attending 76th World Health Assembly at Geneva and briefing world on measures taken by the government of Pakistan to reduce risk factors of the non-communicable diseases, it was imperative to be successful in increasing duties and taxes on sugary drinks.

Consultant at Global Health Advocacy Incubator Munawar Hussain said that consumption of sugary drinks has imposed serious threat to economy of the country as well.

“The estimated annual cost of managing diabetes was $2.64 billion in Pakistan in 2021. This is seriously hitting our economy and health care sector,” he said

Dr Khawaja Masuood Ahmed at Ministry of National Health Services said “the per capita fruits and vegetable consumption is low in Pakistan as unfortunately the beverage companies promote their juices and other sugary drinks as an alternative of fruits which have high amount of sugars. The nutritionists and public health experts recommend consuming fruits and vegetables in their original form as a healthier option but not in the form of juices which are harmful to the health.”

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2023