Prevention must be stepped up if governments are to beat diabetes threat and avert crisis, says report
Diabetes prevention programmes must be improved to avoid future health crises, the International Diabetes Federation says.
Contributing factors such as childhood obesity must be curbed to meet targets for the reduction of new cases by 2025, the federation says.
In 2014, governments committed to stopping the rise in diabetes after recommendations by the World Health Organisation.
Four years later, only five countries say they are on track to achieving that, with others looking at a difficult future.
Last year in the Mena region, US$21.3 billion (Dh78.24bn) was spent on treating 38.7 million people with diabetes.
More than a million people in the UAE have diabetes, with many more likely to be either undiagnosed or pre-diabetic.
Figures from 2015 show that 19.3 per cent of the population have the condition, making it 13th on a World Diabetes Federation list.
Last year, the UAE spent an average of Dh8,334 treating each diabetic patient and there were 2,160 related deaths.
“Halting the rise of diabetes will require a shift from personal to shared responsibility, with greater accountability from governments and the food industry,” said Dr Yasser Sadawey, from Medeor 24x7 International Hospital in Al Ain.
“Regulations could strengthen public response by implementing food labelling and curb junk food advertising.”
In Abu Dhabi, people are urged to take responsibility for their health.
The Weqaya screening programme provides a personal health report, explaining the results and advising on how to avoid some health conditions.
A sugar tax on fizzy drinks and mandatory exercise in primary schools to help fight obesity have been introduced.
“The UAE’s diabetes associations and healthcare organisations are doing a commendable job of educating the masses, but more needs to be done based on the speed at which this condition is growing,” said Dr Sarla Kumari, of Canadian Specialist Hospital.
“Often, people do not know they have diabetes. When left untreated, it can lead to complications like blindness, kidney damage, diabetic foot and cardiovascular disorders.”
Research from the federation suggests that universal health coverage would help to treat the disease, making medicine such as insulin affordable and accessible. More education would help to cut diabetes-related deaths by 30 per cent. Last year, medical journal The Lancet published an analysis of the progress made against diabetes by evaluating childhood obesity, universal health coverage and deaths to which the disease contributed.
The UAE ranks 121 in the world. On a scale of 0-100, with 100 representing the best performing nations, it scores 39 for childhood obesity, 67 for health care access and 52 for deaths from non-communicable disease.