Disease prevention: ’10 million diabetics in Pakistan’

The disease could become the seventh largest cause of deaths worldwide by 2030: speakers.

FAISALABAD:

It is a matter of grave concern that nearly seven per cent of the country’s population suffers from diabetes, said speakers at the inaugural session of a seminar titled Management of Diabetes Milletus. The seminar was organised by the department of physiology at the Government College University, Faisalabad (GCUF) on Tuesday.

GCUF Vice Chancellor Zakir Hussain said the disease was spreading rapidly in the country.

“In 2000, there were 5.2 million diabetes patients in the country. This figure has almost doubled to 1 million,” he said.

Hussain said according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the disease may become the seventh largest cause of deaths worldwide by the year 2030 if tangible steps were not taken now. He said as many as 347 million people across the world suffered from diabetes.

He said regular exercise and a balanced diet helped as obesity and physical inactivity were strongly associated with developing diabetes.

“People over 35-years of age with a history of the disease in their family should get a check up done,” he said.

Dr Naureen Aziz, the GCUF faculty of science and technology dean, said a lack of awareness and poor health services were a major reason why the disease was so fatal in the country.

She said diabetes was a metabolic disorder with elevated blood sugar “either because the pancreas does not produce the required amount of insulin or because the cells stop responding to the insulin produced.”

Dr Haseeb Anwar, a GCUF faculty member, said the seminar’s objective was to spread awareness about the disease, its complications, and how it can be managed through diet and exercise.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2013.