KARACHI, June 17: More than seven million people in Pakistan have diabetes and many of them do not know about it, while by the year 2025 the number of people affected with the disease will rise to 14 million.

Living with diabetes is not easy, but people with this condition can live full and happy lives and to help achieve this objective, the Aga Khan University Hospital has started a monthly diabetes awareness programme for people with diabetes mellitus.

The programme will focus on creating awareness about the disease helping patients to cope with the implications.

The “Healthy People 2000” will incorporate the need for diabetes education and acknowledges the contribution of education to reducing the morbidity and mortality resulting from diabetes.

The National Diabetes Advisory Board stated in its 1993 annual report that “in the care of diabetes, an ounce of education saves a pound of treatment.”

It has been recommended that health-care professionals, both collaboratively and individually, develop programmes and projects to strive to meet the objective of the programme. —APP