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Diabetes pandemic: millions affected do not know their condition

Washington, DC, October 21, 2003 (PAHO)—Education, solidarity and coordinated work are the keys to fight against the diabetes pandemic, according to experts and diabetics at a meeting here today.

Facing a projection that there will be 45 million people with diabetes by the year 2010, the Declaration of the Americas on Diabetes (DOTA), a continental coalition, is meeting at the headquarters of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to strengthen partnerships among physicians, patients, the pharmaceutical industry, and the community.

Dr. Joxel García, deputy director of PAHO, opened the meeting today saying that diabetes is a disease with pandemic characteristics in the Americas. “I know diabetes closely because a nephew who is 13 years old is diabetic and needs to inject insulin four times a day. I can see how this disease affects family interaction and the stigma that diabetics live with.”

One of the most serious points that García noted is that a third of those who suffer from diabetes do not know their condition. “Imagine that, of the 45 million people that will be diabetics in 2010, 15 million will not know it,” he said. “We have made much progress in education on the disease but we have to ask journalists to give more visibility to diabetes.”

Susana Feria, who chairs the encounter, has worked in the International Federation of Diabetics for 35 years and has been diabetic for 45 years. She said, “We need to make a greater impact on the populations, on the people who already are diabetic and on the enormous number of people who are at risk of becoming diabetic.”

“As a patient, I can say that is essential to learn what diabetes is, how it can be treated, and to make a commitment to the necessary care. If we do not do this, we assume the risks from lack of metabolic control that can occur and the consequences for our health and our economy,” she said.

Feria added, “Today there is a new concept, that of a type 3 diabetic: the family member who, without suffering from the disease, has to live with the diabetic and assume the tremendous changes implied in family life.”

Participants in the meeting who form part of the coalition include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Diabetes Association, and the Ministries of Health of the Region, among others. They are reviewing successful examples of programs in communities, such as the group AYUDA (American Youth Understanding Diabetes Abroad), which works with youth camps in South America.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, some 40,000 people died from diabetes in 2000, and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that the costs per year--direct and indirect – of diabetes was $65 billion.

According to DOTA, some 30 million people in the Americas suffered from diabetes in 1996, when the coalition was established. In the year 2000, that number increased to 35 million, and current projections are alarming: 45 million diabetics by 2010, and 64 million by 2025.

DOTA was founded in 1996 by PAHO, the `International Diabetes Federation`, private entities, and national and international organizations linked to this disease. Its principal goal is to promote a better health and quality of life in people with diabetes.

Though diabetes affects millions in the Americas, studies show that many complications linked to this disease can be prevented, and even reversed, with adequate controls of blood glucose, education to improve patient self- care.

PAHO was established in 1902 and is the world's oldest public health organization. PAHO works with all the countries of the Americas to improve the health and the quality of life of its people. It also serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization (WHO).