Diabetes situation particularly worrying in developing countries: WHO expert

2009-11-12 15:06:48 [ Big Normal Small ]    　Comment

 GENEVA, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- The situation of the diabetes threat in developing countries is particularly worrying because of the rapid increase of morbidity of the disease due to lifestyle changes and environmental factors, a senior World Health Organization (WHO) expert says.

"The problem is that diabetes prevalence is increasing very rapidly in developing countries ... and the rate of increase is much higher than what happened in the western world 30 or 40 years ago," said Dr Gojka Roglic, a technical officer of the WHO's Diabetes Unit, in an interview ahead of the World Diabetes Day.

More than 180 million people worldwide have diabetes, and this number is likely to more than double by 2030 without intervention, according to WHO estimates. About 80 percent of people with diabetes live in low and middle income countries.

"Diabetes is probably the only chronic condition that has not shown a decrease in prevalence," said Roglic, who has been working in the UN agency since 1999.

She said the prevalence of diabetes was accelerating particularly in urbanized areas of developing countries because the risk in those areas was higher.

She highlighted such risk factors as the lack of physical activity and the popularity of fast food, the typical kind of lifestyle that resulted from urbanization and fast economic development.

"In rural areas, people still do field work, have physical activity as part of their daily life, while in large urban centers, it's very difficult to engage in physical activity because of transport, lack of time, etc. And work activity is mostly sedentary, not physical," Roglic said.

According to the expert, susceptibility is also a factor, because not everybody who has bad lifestyle will get diabetes. "However, many people are susceptible genetically, and if you put that in combination with lifestyle and environmental factors, it results in diabetes."

Lifestyle change is one of the biggest challenges the world faces in tackling the threat of diabetes and other chronic diseases, Roglic said.

She said, however, that it was very difficult for people to change their behavior and habits, especially when the circumstances do not help. To increase physical activity, such as brisk walking which is very helpful for those who engage in sedentary work, people need to have the time and also the environment which enable them to do that, she pointed out.

"If you see all the masses of cars, it's very difficult to say OK for walking. If you are rich, you may be able to do things like fitness, swimming every evening, but if you are poor, you cannot do that."

So lifestyle change is a challenge faced not only by the general public, but also by governments, which need to figure out ways to help their population.

The World Diabetes Day, which falls on Nov. 14, was launched in1991 by the International Diabetes Federation with the support of the WHO. The campaign has certainly "contributed enormously" to raising people's awareness of diabetes and its consequences, according to the expert.

The World Diabetes Day theme for the period 2009-2013 is "Diabetes Education and Prevention," and the campaign slogan for 2009 is "Understand Diabetes and Take Control."

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