The International Diabetes Federation recently released new estimates about the number of people affected by diabetes. According to the IDF, there are 366 million people around the world living with diabetes; the disease also kills one person every seven seconds. The IDF stated that the immense pressures that diabetes places on healthcare systems should encourage world leaders to take a more active role in treating and preventing the disease.
It was estimated that 285 million people had diabetes in 2009. Since that estimate, China has reported that 92.4 million of its citizens have diabetes, which is more than double what the IDF had previously estimated. The increase in China’s diabetic population has increased worldwide spending on diabetes to $465 billion. The Federation presented the figures at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, held in Lisbon, Spain.
“This emphasizes how we’ve been underestimating the prevalence of diabetes,” said Andrew Boulton, president-elect of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes as well as a professor of medicine at the University of Manchester in England. Boulton went on to predict that the numbers were going to get worse: “All the figures, even those we’ve mentioned today, are going to be an underestimate.”
The Federation released these numbers just six days before a meeting of world leaders at the United Nations in New York. At the meeting, officials will discuss a cooperative, global strategy for combating a variety of chronic, non-communicable diseases, including diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. A political declaration by the governments participating in the meeting stated that as these diseases become more and more common, they undermine economic and social growth, placing a burden on economies with devastating healthcare costs and forcing the allocation of resources to develop new methods of fighting these illnesses.
“Diabetes is a massive challenge the world can no longer afford to ignore,” said Jean Claude Mbanya, president of the International Diabetes Federation. “The clock is ticking for the world’s leaders. We expect action from their meeting next week at the UN that will halt diabetes’ relentlessly upwards trajectory.”
The International Diabetes Federation is an umbrella group representing over 200 national diabetes associations across over 160 countries. Established in the 1950s, the Federation represents the interests of diabetics and those at risk for diabetes. According to the federation’s website, its aim is to “influence policy, increase public awareness and encourage health improvement, promote the exchange of high-quality information about diabetes, and provide education for people with diabetes and their healthcare providers.”
The IDF also operates the Consultative Section on Diabetes Education, an arm of the federation that identifies and addresses issues in diabetes education at the international level. The DECS aids health professionals in educating patients, fosters easier communication between professionals, recognizes high-quality centers for diabetes education, and delivers interdisciplinary training programs for healthcare professionals.
The federation estimates that 4.6 million people die every year from diabetes. Developing countries are the hardest hit by diabetes; four in five diabetics live in a developing country, and most diabetics are of a working age, which places a damper on economies.
The United Nations will meet on September 19 and 20 to focus on using the resources of the “whole of government and the whole of society” to develop responses to chronic diseases such as diabetes and cancer. The meeting will focus not only on treatment of such diseases but on prevention through the elimination of risk factors, such as smoking, lack of exercise, and poor diet.
