World Seen Facing Diabetes Catastrophe, Impact May Outpace AIDS

[Guest guest]

(note from AL: I have a creepy feeling when I read this article. The

data may be accurate but the interpretation stinks. Have these

people been asleep the last quarter century of devestation,

cultural, political and economic as well as medical that AIDS has

visited on the advanced countries and the sheer human toll it's

taking in Africa and soon China?...I think it's the old bugaboo of

marginalizing anything to do with Gays. The 'risk' of diabetes

expected to be more impactful then the reality of the deaths and

disease of AIDS?! Come on! But I guess the same can be said of a

metiorite strike)

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By Emelia Sithole

PARIS (Reuters) Aug 25 - More than 300 million people worldwide are

at risk of developing diabetes, and the disease's economic impact in

some hard-hit countries could be higher than that of the AIDS

pandemic, diabetes experts warned on Monday.

In a report released at the International Diabetes Federation

conference in Paris, experts estimate the annual healthcare costs of

diabetes worldwide for people aged 20 to 79 are already at least

$153 billion.

According to the Diabetes Atlas report, total direct healthcare

spending on the disease worldwide will be between $213 billion and

$396 billion by 2025, if predictions are correct that the number of

people with diabetes will rise to 333 million by 2025 from 194

million.

" In some countries with a higher incidence, diabetes has a higher

economic impact than AIDS, " Rhys, professor of clinical

epidemiology at the University of Wales, told a news conference.

More than 75 percent of diabetes cases are expected to be in

developing countries by 2025 because of rapid cultural and social

changes as well as increasing urbanization. This is expected to

further burden healthcare systems already stretched by the AIDS

pandemic.

" What AIDS was in the last 20 years of the 20th century, diabetes is

going to be in the first 20 years of this century, " said

Zimmet, foundation director of the International Diabetes Institute.

Zimmet and other experts say the diabetes epidemic will be fueled by

an estimated 314 million people with impaired glucose tolerance

(IGT) who are at high risk for developing type II diabetes.

They also warn that type II diabetes was increasing in children and

adolescents in many countries and is linked to rising obesity. They

urged food companies -- especially those that make fast foods -- to

produce healthier foods, and governments to set up national

campaigns to combat diabetes.

" We are running out of time, " IDF President-elect Pierre Lefebvre

warned during a news conference.

" If action is not taken now to stop the rise in diabetes, there is a

significant risk that governments and social security systems may

fail to ensure the appropriate care to the millions who will be

affected by diabetes in 2025, " he said.