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Roundup: United Nations calls for greater action to turn tide of growing global epidemic of diabetes

Xinhua, November 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Saturday the international communities to "step up to limit the impact of diabetes" which, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned, will be the 7th leading cause of death by 2030.

The secretary-general made the appeal in his message for World Diabetes Day, which falls on Nov. 14.

Ban emphasized that people must take steps towards leading healthy lives while governments create conditions to stem the global epidemic.

Nearly 350 million people in the world have diabetes, and the prevalence is rising rapidly, particularly in low-and middle-income countries, the statement noted. "There is much all of us can do to minimize our risk of getting the disease and, even if we do get it, to live long and healthy lives with it."

"People who have diabetes lose their ability to properly regulate their blood sugar," the statement said. "Out-of-control blood sugar can lead to nerve damage, heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney failure and lower-limb amputation."

"There is much all of us can do to minimize our risk of getting the disease and, even if we do get it, to live long and healthy lives with it," the statement said.

Most people with diabetes have a form of the illness -- type 2 -- that disproportionately strikes people who are overweight and sedentary, the statement said. "This means that the steps we take to steer clear of type 2 diabetes are the same steps we can take to maintain good health."

"Diabetes also affects our wallets," the statement said. "Many who suffer complications lose their incomes because they cannot work. Moreover, treatment can be expensive. Insulin is unaffordable for many people in low- and middle-income countries, where most people with diabetes live."

Even in high-income countries, the cost has increased in recent years beyond the reach of many, the statement said. "For those people who produce none of their own insulin -- as in type 1 of the disease -- going without insulin is a death sentence."

"Just as individuals must take steps to live healthy lives, so can governments create enabling environments," the statement said. "Health facilities can expand care for diabetes. The private sector can improve the availability and affordability of healthier products and essential medicines."

The world recently took a major step in adopting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and incorporating a target to reduce by one-third the deaths attributed to non-communicable diseases, including diabetes, by 2030, the statement said.

"On World Diabetes Day, let us recognize the progress we have made, but let us also acknowledge that it is not yet enough," the statement said. "Let us all step up to limit the impact of diabetes."

WHO is also marking World Diabetes Day 2015 by announcing that the Organization's annual World Health Day, which recognizes its birthday on April April 7, will focus on the issue of diabetes.

"World Health Day will provide an important platform for promoting efforts to prevent diabetes and ensure optimal management of the condition for people living with one of the various forms of disease," the health agency said.

Multiple actions can be taken to reduce the impact of diabetes, through adopting healthy lifestyles, such as partaking in physical activity and healthy diets, to government action on curbing the marketing of unhealthy foods and ensuring health systems provide the required services and care for people living with the disease.

In 2012, diabetes was the direct cause of some 1.5 million deaths, with more than 80 percent of them occurring in low- and middle-income countries. WHO projects that diabetes will be the 7th leading cause of death by 2030.

There are two main forms of the disease. People with type 1 diabetes typically make none of their own insulin and therefore require insulin injections for survival. People with type 2 diabetes, the form that comprises some 90 percent of all cases, usually produce their own insulin, but not enough or they are unable to use it properly.

People with type 2 diabetes are typically overweight and sedentary.

"But, properly treated, the impact of diabetes can be minimised," according to WHO.

On Dec. 20, 2006, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution recognizing diabetes as a chronic, debilitating and costly disease associated with major complications that poses severe risks for families, countries and the entire world, and designated Nov. 14 as a UN day to be observed every year beginning in 2007.

Introduced by the WHO and the International Diabetes Federation, the Day is to mark the birthday of Frederick Banting who, along with Charles Best, was instrumental in the discovery of insulin in 1922, a life-saving treatment for diabetes patients. Enditem