Diabetes kills three people every minute: so what in the world can we do to fight it?
- There’s no cure for the disease – seventh in the global causes of death – which used up 12 per cent of world’s health care budget in 2017, so prevention is key
- China was home to estimated 114 million diabetics in 2017 – nearly one third of all cases – but rise in affluence and urbanisation means number has risen
There is no way to sugar coat this: the World Health Organisation says that an estimated 1.6 million people died prematurely (under the age of 70), directly because of diabetes in 2016. That is three deaths per minute, or a staggering 4,300 every day.
Diabetes, ranked seventh among the top 10 global causes of death, is a formidable killer and in 2017 used up 12 per cent of the world’s health expenditure (US$727 billion), according to the International Diabetes Federation.
Diabetes can result in long-standing heightened levels of glucose in the blood, causing damage to the nerves, blood vessels, eyes, heart and kidney, leading to unnoticed wounds and infections, amputations, strokes, blindness, heart attacks, kidney failure and death
Nearly one third of the world’s diabetics are estimated to live in China.
The disease, which results when there is too much sugar in the blood, comes in two forms: type 1 diabetes, where the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, a hormone that enables cells to take up and use glucose for energy, and type 2, where cells do not respond effectively to insulin.
Both types of diabetes can result in long-standing heightened levels of glucose in the blood, which causes damage to the nerves, blood vessels, eyes, heart and kidney, leading to unnoticed wounds and infections, amputations, strokes, blindness, heart attacks, kidney failure and death.
There is more bad news: the vast majority (90 per cent) of diabetics have type 2 diabetes, which can wreak havoc on your body without you noticing anything – until it is too late.
