AS the world marks World Diabetes Day today, November 14, the World Health Organization (WHO) has called for urgent improvements in access to care for the condition globally.
It said people living with diabetes at every stage of life deserved affordable and integrated healthcare services.
With the theme, “Diabetes Across Life Stages,” WHO in a statement noted that diabetes increasingly affects people from childhood to old age.
According to the organisation, every person living with diabetes should have access to supportive environments, policies and health services that promote dignity, effective self-management and long-term wellbeing.
The global health body defines diabetes as “a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces.”
Symptoms may include intense thirst, frequent urination, fatigue, unintended weight loss and blurred vision. If untreated, the condition can lead to life-threatening complications affecting the eyes, kidneys, nerves and blood vessels.
Type 2 diabetes, the most common form, is strongly linked to obesity, sedentary lifestyles and diet while Type 1 diabetes, although less common, requires daily insulin treatment and currently has no known prevention method.
In 2021, diabetes and diabetes-related kidney disease caused over two million deaths, while high blood glucose contributed to 11 per cent of all cardiovascular deaths.
Rising Burden
Meanwhile, the 2024 data sheet released by WHO shows that the number of people living with diabetes surged from 200 million in 1990 to 830 million in 2022, with prevalence increasing faster in poorer countries.
Despite this rise, more than half of adults with diabetes were not on medication in 2022, a gap most pronounced in low- and middle-income regions.
“In 2022, 14 per cent of adults aged 18 years and older were living with diabetes, an increase from seven per cent in 1990. More than half (59 per cent) of adults aged 30 years and over living with diabetes were not taking medication for their diabetes in 2022. Diabetes treatment coverage was lowest in low- and middle-income countries.
“In 2021, diabetes was the direct cause of 1.6 million deaths and 47 per cent of all deaths due to diabetes occurred before the age of 70 years. Another 530,000 kidney disease deaths were caused by diabetes, and high blood glucose causes around 11 pet cent of cardiovascular deaths (1),” the report read.
The WHO noted that diabetes deaths had risen steadily since 2000, even though the overall risk of dying from the four major noncommunicable diseases (cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes) fell globally by 20 per cent among people aged 30 to 70 between 2000 and 2019.
Push for preventive measures
The 2025 World Diabetes Day, WHO said, was an opportunity for governments and communities to raise awareness and commit to policies that help reduce the growing burden of the disease.
The agency urged countries to “spread knowledge and create lasting change for all affected by diabetes.”
In 2022, the global health body said its member states endorsed five global diabetes coverage targets to be achieved by 2030 as part of efforts to strengthen early detection and treatment.
These targets include diagnosing 80 per cent of all people with diabetes; ensuring 80 per cent of those diagnosed have controlled blood sugar; and ensuring 80 per cent have controlled blood pressure.
Others are providing statins to 60 per cent of people aged 40 and above; and guaranteeing that 100 per cent of people with type 1 diabetes have access to affordable insulin and blood glucose self-monitoring tools.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M