KARACHI, Nov 16: Diabetes is caused when the body does not produce enough insulin or when it cannot effectively use the insulin produced.

As a result, the person is unable to use the glucose in the food and this leads to an abnormally high level of glucose in the blood, informed Dr. Ghazala Rafique, Senior Instructor at the Aga Khan University (AKU).

She was speaking at a World Diabetes Day programme.

Anyone, anywhere at any age can get diabetes. However, being overweight and having a family history of diabetes increases the risk of developing the condition, she said.

She said it is estimated that there are 151 million people affected with diabetes Type-2 globally.

Pakistan currently has about 6.5 million people with diabetes and if no intervention strategies are adopted, this number would rise to 14.5 million by the year 2025.

Diabetes is a serious and lifelong condition. Unfortunately, once a person has diabetes, it is there to stay and without proper management it can lead to markedly increased risk for developing complications, such as heart disease, stroke, blindness, renal failure and amputations.

Dr. Ghazala stressed that although there is no ‘cure’ for diabetes, effective treatment is available and persons with diabetes can lead a normal and active life provided they follow the medical advice and adapt healthy life-style.

People who have family history of diabetes, who are overweight and women with gestational history of diabetes be screened regularly for diabetes, she said.

The speaker and the panelists, Dr. Abdul Jabbar, Dr. Najmul Islam, Dr. Naeemul Haque, Dr. Riaz Qureshi, Dr. Salma Badruddin and Ms. Khairun Nisa Naqvi participated in the question and answer session.—APP