WHO red-flags growing risk of diabetes in SE Asia
NEW DELHI: Diabetes affected nearly 246 million people in the South-East Asia Region in 2022, but more than 60% of people with suffering from this chronic disease in the region are unaware of their status, the WHO said Thursday.
On the occasion of World Diabetes Day, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the outcomes of untreated and uncontrolled diabetes range from heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure, blindness, and amputations.
“These complications not only impose an emotional and financial burden on individuals and families but also significant financial strain on healthcare systems,” said Saima Wazed, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia (SEARO).
In the Region, which has 11 members, including India, less than one in three adults with diabetes are on treatment and less than 15 % of people living with diabetes have the disease status under control.
According to a study published in Lancet, India recorded the highest number of diabetics globally in 2022, accounting for over a quarter of the world’s 828 million cases.
Around 212 million people in India, about 23.7% of the population, were living with diabetes in 2022, said the report by the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration and WHO. It added that nearly 62% of diabetics in India were not receiving any treatment for their condition.
This year the theme for World Diabetes Day is Breaking Barriers, Bridging Gaps.
Wazed stressed that the public need to be made aware of prevention, detection, and management of diabetes through awareness campaigns integrated with campaigns aimed at healthy lifestyles, and those targeted at maternal, child and adolescent health considering the life course approach.
“The lack of readiness of our primary healthcare systems in terms of standard management protocol availability of essential medicines, issues related to availability and affordability of quality diagnostics, and trained healthcare professionals need to be remedied immediately,” she said.
Prevention of risk factors of diabetes needs an enabling environment and implementing WHO best buys interventions in the national context through a multisectoral approach.
The policy and programmatic initiatives taken by countries of the South-East Asia Region to address tobacco control, obesity, trans fatty acid elimination, and physical inactivity are positive steps and are being identified as good practices globally, she added.
Bridging the service gaps to ensure timely access to diabetes care can save lives. “The care services need to be equitable, comprehensive, accessible, and affordable,” she said.
The countries in the WHO South-East Asia Region, are making steady progress in the provision of services for the management of diabetes. More than 23 million people with diabetes have been placed on protocol-based management by mid-2024 aiming to reach the SEAHEARTS target of 100 million with diabetes and hypertension to be placed on standard treatment by 2025.