World Health Day 2016: WHO Calls for Global Action to Halt Rise In And Improve Care For People With Diabetes
07 Apr 2016 --- WHO has marked its annual World Health Day (7 April) with its first “Global report on diabetes”, where WHO highlights the need to step up prevention and treatment of the disease.
“If we are to make any headway in halting the rise in diabetes, we need to rethink our daily lives: to eat healthily, be physically active, and avoid excessive weight gain,” says Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General. “Even in the poorest settings, governments must ensure that people are able to make these healthy choices and that health systems are able to diagnose and treat people with diabetes.”
In Europe, based on the latest figures released by the International Diabetes Federation in 2015, it is estimated that 59.8 million people between 20-79 years of age are suffering from diabetes.
- The number of people living with diabetes and its prevalence are growing in all regions of the world. In 2014, 422 million adults (or 8.5% of the population) had diabetes, compared with 108 million (4.7%) in 1980.
- The epidemic of diabetes has major health and socioeconomic impacts, especially in developing countries.
- In 2014, more than 1 in 3 adults aged over 18 years were overweight and more than one in 10 were obese.
- The complications of diabetes can lead to heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney failure and lower limb amputation. For example, rates of lower limb amputation are 10 to 20 times higher for people with diabetes.
- Diabetes caused 1.5 million deaths in 2012. Higher-than-optimal blood glucose caused an additional 2.2 million deaths by increasing the risks of cardiovascular and other diseases.
- Many of these deaths (43%) occur prematurely, before the age of 70 years, and are largely preventable through adoption of policies to create supportive environments for healthy lifestyles and better detection and treatment of the disease.
- Good management includes use of a small set of generic medicines; interventions to promote healthy lifestyles; patient education to facilitate self-care; and regular screening for early detection and treatment of complications.
“Many cases of diabetes can be prevented, and measures exist to detect and manage the condition, improving the odds that people with diabetes live long and healthy lives,” says Dr Oleg Chestnov, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for NCDs and Mental Health. “But change greatly depends on governments doing more, including by implementing global commitments to address diabetes and other NCDs.”
In a statement, the International Sweetener Association (ISA) have also shown their support for World Health Day 2016 as well as the fight against diabetes: “Low calorie sweeteners can become a sweet ally for both the prevention and management of diabetes, as they provide the desired sweet taste without affecting blood glucose and insulin levels.”
“We as an industry have a duty to support consumers in a better choice of low glycaemic food and drink options, through the use of ingredients that support a lower blood glucose response. BENEO’s chicory root fibres inulin and oligofructose, slow release carbohydrate isomaltulose (Palatinose) and sugar replacer isomalt, lower blood glucose response and have approved health claims in the EU related to this effect. If we are going to make long-term health part of our priority as an industry, then using ingredients such as these within the product mix will become increasingly important in 2016 and beyond.”