ISLAMABAD, Nov 13: The World Diabetes Day is being observed on Monday to raise awareness of this chronic disease.
The new diabetes atlas figures released by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) confirm that the diabetes epidemic continues to worsen. In 2011, one person is dying from diabetes every seven seconds.
Data from global studies demonstrate that the number of people with diabetes in 2011 has reached 366 million; 4.6 million deaths are due to diabetes and healthcare spending on the disease has reached the $465 billion mark.
Pakistan ranks sixth globally in the number of persons with diabetes, says a World Bank report on non-communicable diseases in South Asia. A high prevalence of diabetes was noted in all provinces especially in urban and rural Sindh (16.5 per cent and 13.9 per cent, respectively).
Approximately, half of those with diabetes were unaware of their condition. Future projections indicate a two to threefold increase in diabetes over the next decades.
A report prepared for national action plan for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases and health promotion in Pakistan under a public-private partnership in health says that Pakistanis are an ethnic group having an inherent predilection to develop diabetes; increase in life expectancy and major changes in diet and lifestyles that are a part of urbanisation and social development further contribute to the existing trend.
Undiagnosed, untreated and poorly controlled diabetes is known to exhort a considerable toll on individuals, communities and the healthcare system. It significantly adds to the burden of preventable diseases and leads to economic losses that stem from high cost of care and lost productivity.
On the other hand, scientific evidence highlights the potential to prevent diabetes and its complications through cost-effective measures at the population and high-risk levels of intervention.
Against the backdrop of the high prevalence of diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) in Pakistan, the study reported a very high unawareness rate for diabetes with 36.3 per cent of the patients being unaware of their condition.
Recently conducted surveys have revealed that knowledge relating to diabetes and its prevention is significantly low even in the urban metropolitan areas; only 40 per cent of the known diabetics treated at tertiary healthcare facilities in Karachi had correct knowledge relating to diabetes and its complications.