Diabetes - The Facts, The Figures and The People

Saturday 14th November is #WorldDiabetesDay, a day created in 1991 by the International Diabetes Foundation and the World Health Organisation to provide an annual opportunity to bring diabetes, and the issues that those with diabetes face, into the foreground.

According to worlddiabetesday.org, “the campaign draws issues of paramount importance to the diabetes would and keeps diabetes firmly in the public and political spotlight”.

But why is there such an urgent need to shine a spotlight on the global impact of diabetes?

According to the IDF Diabetes Atlas published in 2019, the below facts and figures are the basis of the projected global impact of diabetes:

463 million adults (1-in-11) were living with diabetes in 2019 The number of people living with diabetes is expected rise to 578 million by 2030.

1 in 2 adults with diabetes remain undiagnosed (232 million). The majority have type 2 diabetes.

More than 3 in 4 people with diabetes live in low and middle-income countries.

1 in 6 live births (20 million) are affected by high blood glucose (hyperglycaemia) in pregnancy.

Two-thirds of people with diabetes live in urban areas and three-quarters are of working age.

1 in 5 people with diabetes (136 million) are above 65 years old.

Diabetes caused 4.2 million deaths in 2019.

Diabetes was responsible for at least $760 billion in health expenditure in 2019 – 10% of the global total spent on healthcare.

However, people living with Diabetes are more than just facts and figures. Yesterday, we published a video discussion that I had with Dr. Judith Anders regarding treating people as a whole (you can find the video here.) and one of the main aspects that Dr. Anders spoke about was listening to the stories of those who live with the condition.

The International Diabetes Federation Atlas have produced a series of case studies entitled “Living with Diabetes: Experiences From Around The World” - you can read their stories here.

On Saturday at 3pm CET, the International Diabetes Federation will be live streaming a news-style programme named “Diabetes Matters” to raise the profile of diabetes and unite voices in diabetes awareness for World Diabetes Day 2020 and beyond. You can watch the trailer here.