Diabetes Epidemic Spreading Worldwide: Experts

Western diets, more cars taking their toll in developing world

By E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporter

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FRIDAY, March 16 (HealthDay News) -- More than two-thirds of the world's estimated 246 million diabetics come from less-affluent developing nations, and more must be done to curb a disease that now rivals HIV/AIDS in terms of suffering and death around the globe.

That sobering assessment was offered by experts gathered at this week's Global Changing Diabetes Leadership Forum in New York City, which included keynote speaker former President Bill Clinton. The conference is one of the largest such gatherings ever of scientists, health-care advocates and government leaders focused on the issue.

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"This truly is an epidemic," warned Dr. Martin Silink, president of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), which represents more than 200 diabetes associations across 158 countries. "Seventy percent of the global burden of diabetes is now in developing countries, even though that seems paradoxical. People think that it should be in the developed world where there is access to fast food and lots of obesity."

But rapid lifestyle changes are affecting the health of people in China, India, South America, and elsewhere, he said. "As their economies develop, diabetes is now subverting the gains of economic development," Silink said.

The issue has gained such urgency that the United Nations' General Assembly in December passed a global resolution to encourage the prevention, treatment and care of diabetes. The U.N. has only passed one such disease-targeted resolution before, when it vowed to fight HIV/AIDS.

Some statistics from the IDF:

• By 2025, the number of people with diabetes is expected to rise to 380 million worldwide, with 80 percent living in the developing world.
• Each year, another 7 million people develop diabetes, while 3.8 million die of diabetes-linked causes.
• In many countries in Asia, the Middle East and the Caribbean, diabetes already affects 15 percent to 20 percent of the adult population.
• India now has the largest number of diabetics (almost 41 million) in the world, followed by China (nearly 40 million), the United States (19.2 million) and Russia (9.6 million).
• Diabetes increasingly affects the young or middle-aged, with more than half of diabetics in developing countries between the ages of 40 and 59.

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