BRUSSELS, BELGIUM–(Marketwire – Nov. 12, 2009) – The Republic of Mauritius in collaboration with the World Health Organization Afro Region and the International Diabetes Federation(IDF) today opened an International Conference on Diabetes & Associated Diseases in Port Louis, Mauritius to highlight their concern about the rapid growth of the diabetes epidemic throughout Africa. The conference will run from November 12 and end on November 14 – World Diabetes Day.
The Pan-African conference will feature the Regional Director of WHO Afro and health ministers from 46 African countries, directors from WHO global and WHO Afro, IDF experts, and other leading diabetes experts from across the globe to discuss the current issues, latest developments and practical management and prevention of diabetes and its complications. Participants will also take stock of the latest scientific evidence-based best practices to address the epidemic of diabetes and related complications -http://www.gov.mu/portal/sites/diabetesconf2009/index.htm. The goal is to build a strategic alliance among health professionals that will provide the momentum to implement both the National Diabetes Services Framework and procedures, and the UN Resolution on Diabetes (Res.61/225).
Africa will have the highest percentage increase in the number of people with diabetes in the next 20 years because of rapid industrialization and general improvements in living standards over the past five decades according to the latest data from the IDF Diabetes Atlas 4th edition. At least 80% of people in Africa with diabetes remain undiagnosed. The picture is bleak for those already affected by diabetes as the IDF data shows that in Africa, most of those who die from diabetes are in the economically productive age group (30 to 60 years).(1)
“No country is immune to diabetes and no country has all the answers to this common enemy that we confront. No country has yet managed to reverse the trend of rising prevalence. Defeating diabetes will take every ounce of commitment and ingenuity that we can summon. It is time to think creatively and to break down old paradigms. Studies show increasingly strong linkages between diabetes and many other diseases, such as heart disease, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS,” said Professor Jean Claude Mbanya, President of the International Diabetes Federation and co-chair of the Scientific Committee of the conference.
Mbanya added, “IDF’s aim is to achieve sustainable health systems as called for in United Nations Resolution 61/225, and to catalyse funding that is committed to helping health systems develop sustainable, cost-effective measures for prevention and care of diabetes and other non-communicable diseases”
Diabetes Globally
Africa is not alone in fighting the diabetes epidemic. IDF data shows that 285 million people worldwide now live with diabetes (4-in-5 are in developing countries). That number is expected to exceed 435 million in 2030(2) if the current rate of growth continues unchecked. Diabetes will kill four million people in the coming year, more than HIV/AIDS and Malaria combined.
Diabetes has become a development issue which threatens health and economic prosperity in low- and middle-income countries. IDF predicts that diabetes will cost the world economy at least US$376 billion in 2010, or 11.6% of total world healthcare expenditure. By 2030, this number is projected to exceed US$490 billion.(3) More than 80% of diabetes spending is in the world’s richest countries and not in the poorer countries, where over 70 percent of people with diabetes now live.
Diabetes in Mauritius
Globally, only one other country has a larger proportion of its population with diabetes than Mauritius, the Pacific island of Nauru.
“If one needed a barometer for assessing or predicting the direction of the global diabetes epidemic, we do not need to go past the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius with its population of about 1.3 million,” said Professor Paul Zimmet, Co-Chair of the IDF Task Force on Epidemiology and Prevention from Australia’s Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute.
Zimmet, who is co-chair of the scientific committee and a keynote speaker at the conference, said the multi-racial population of Mauritius (Asian Indian Hindus, Asian Indian Muslims, Chinese and Creoles) has undergone rapid industrialization and economic growth over the past several decades. This brought in its wake a dramatic shift in the disease pattern. He noted that these ethnic groups constitute two-thirds of the world’s population. Mauritius acts as a microcosm of the global epidemic and data from successive studies here have been critical for IDF in its global predictions of diabetes.
Along with the Mauritius Ministry of Health and Quality of Life, Zimmet and Sir George Alberti have been conducting surveys in Mauritius since 1987 (1992, 1998, and 2004) which have shown that prevalence rates for diabetes and its complications are very high. Between 1987 and 1998, there was a 38% increase in diabetes numbers. In the most recent 2009 survey, (led by Sudhir Kowlessur and Professor Zimmet), there has been a further dramatic increase in numbers.
“This bodes poorly for India (50.8 million) and China (43.2 million), the two nations that already have the most people with diabetes globally as well as the many nations around the world with immigration of these ethnic groups,” said Zimmet.
Zimmet also voiced his great concern about the dramatic increase in diabetes in Indigenous populations citing the example of Australia’s Aboriginal population. “In our rich nation,” he said, “we have close to the highest world rates of diabetes, diabetic kidney disease and amputations in the world. Diabetes is the fastest growing disease worldwide and one of the greatest public health challenges of the 21st Century”
Professor Mbanya said, “Faced with these alarming numbers in Mauritius, it is especially important that we focus on the country this World Diabetes Day. This international conference marks the start of the political action necessary to reverse the diabetes epidemic worldwide.”
For the next five years IDF is focused on Diabetes Education and Prevention through its World Diabetes Day campaign.
References
1,2,3 – IDF Diabetes Atlas 4th Edition, International Diabetes Federation, 2009.www.diabetesatlas.org
Note to Editors
About IDF
The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) is an umbrella organization of 212 member associations in 163 countries and territories, representing over 285 million people with diabetes, their families, and their healthcare providers. The mission of IDF is to promote diabetes care, prevention and a cure worldwide. Its main activities include education for people with diabetes and healthcare professionals, public awareness campaigns and the promotion and exchange of information. IDF is a non-governmental organization in official relations with WHO and associated to the United Nations’ Department of Public Information. For more information, please visit www.idf.org and follow us at twitter.com/IntDiabetesFed. The World Diabetes Day campaign can be followed online at www.worlddiabetesday.org;www.twitter.com/wdd; Facebook-http://tinyurl.com/o7o6kf andwww.youtube.com/worlddiabetesday.
(1) IDF Diabetes Atlas 4th Edition, International Diabetes Federation, 2009.www.diabetesatlas.org
(2) IDF Diabetes Atlas 4th Edition, International Diabetes Federation, 2009.www.diabetesatlas.org
(3) IDF Diabetes Atlas 4th Edition, International Diabetes Federation, 2009.www.diabetesatlas.org
About the Author
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is your 30′s to old to have children?
Im 19 and id really like to start a family around my 30′s. i kinda would like to finish College, have a good job, own a house have a car and otherr assets and enough money in my bank account to have a family and i see myself acomplishing this in around 10-12 years.However my friend sys that you shouldnt have kids in your 30s cause the child could come out brain damaged have a disease or be deformed. Yea id love my future children no matter what but im really scared. is what she said true?
Don’t listen to her. It looks like you have it all planned out and good for you. I started having kids when I was twenty and four months ago at 37 I gave birth to triplets who are perfectly healthy.
Anytime in you twenties and thirties is a great time to have kids-once you reach your forties there will be more complications but women do it all the time.
I am the proud mother or eight kids plus two gorgeous step daughters and at each stage of my life I think I improve as a mother. I sometimes feel I was too young at twenty but I got married young and that was what we wanted. If you want a big family like we did you have to start early.
Good Luck
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Has anyone ever seen a dog’s head shake like they have Parkinson’s disease? My Old English Bulldog has this.
He seems to exhibit this shaking action when he’s tired or late in the day. Some day’s we never see it occur and then sometimes it occurs several days in a row. Duration of the shaking is only about 10-20 minutes. He has no problem breathing and exhibits no other signs besides the head shanking. If you’ve ever seen a person with Parkinson’s disease the shaking of their head is something you’ll never forget. My OEB has this and I’m very concerned.
My doberman does this all I do to help her is to give her a dog treat and it stops it almost immediately. Hope this helps
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We have helped the mother of our grandson?
We have also accepted her other 2 children whom she’s had since.Our son could not afford to help so we did.Now she has moved in with the father of her last child & is trying to push us out of the picture.What rights do we have as these are our grandchildren.The one has a rare disease & we took him to every appointment he had in the city at no cost to her.We learned how to administer his meds so he could sleep over.Now after 10yrs.she is trying to push us out due to moving in with the new guy.What can we do?She has the kids calling the dads of the last two, Dad,and our son,the father of her oldest,his buddy,not his Dad &wants us to do the same as she says it’s not our right to call our son,dad to our grandson.Is this right?
no its not right,call a attorney usually 1st consultation is free,ask what the laws are in your state he will tell you ask what you can do,i would file court papers w/family court for visitation in cases like yours you are granted visitation time also your son should file separate for his visitation this way they all stay w/you so that you can be a part of their lives which is very important especially w/your circumstances,usually people put [ friends ] before children are irresponsible anyways this way you will know if there is anything wrong.the judge can also order her not to allow her children to call her boyfriends dad this is not acceptable it could cause alot of stress on the kids.good luck
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