United States: Over 800million adults have diabetes globally, which stands twice the previously estimated values, and more than 50% of adults with the disease who are over 30 years of age still have no access to treatment, research reveals.
Estimates from the study presented in The Lancet reveal that the world today is struggling with the combined rate of diabetes at 14 percent compared to 7 percent in 1990, with authors attributing this uptick to the growing cases in low- and middle-income countries or LMICs.
However, while there are many more such cases, treatment levels in those areas have only risen slightly, as the authors pointed out, while some better-off nations have seen a progressive treatment advancement – thus creating a growing treatment divide, Reuters reported.
The study further reveals that in 2022, globally, there were about 828 million non-communicable cases of diabetes in people aged 18 years and above, both with type 1 and type 2.
The authors indicate that of the adults 30 years old and above, 445 million, or 59 percent, did not have access to treatment.
The World Health Organization has in the past said that roughly 422 million people have diabetes, a lifelong condition that affects metabolism and blood sugar and can harm the heart, blood vessels, nerves, and tissues if not controlled.
What more has the WHO stated?
The WHO’s Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in a statement that the rise documented in the study was alarming.
Mr Mbanya pointed out that in some sub-Saharan African nations, less than a quarter of the approximate population with diabetes was receiving medication. Managing diabetes, whether through insulin or drugs, usually costs a lot of money.
According to him, “To bring the global diabetes epidemic under control, countries must urgently take action.”
“A huge number (are) at risk of serious health complications,” he added.
The study was conducted by the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration and the WHO and is the first global analysis that incorporated ‘rates and treatment estimates’ for every country, according to the authors.
It is based on more than one thousand pieces of research that were undertaken separately by more than 140 million people.