New stats reveal true scale of Middle East diabetes problem

on Nov 14 tagged by admin

Today is World Diabetes Day and this year’s theme is Diabetes Education and Prevention. Around the world health organisations, companies and individuals are launching initiatives to raise awareness of the issue which diabetes poses to global health.

Among its other awareness raising initiatives, the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) has chosen today to launch the newest edition of its IDF Diabetes Atlas. This fifth edition of the atlas, which brings together statistics on diabetes from across the globe, highlights the scale of the diabetes problem both globally and more specifically in the MENA region, where it is a particularly significant problem.

According to statistics from the IDF the MENA region already has 32.6 million diabetics, accounting for 9.1% of the total population.

The organisation also suggests that there could be a further 19.2 million people in the region who have undiagnosed diabetes, and predicts that by 2030 around 59.7 million people in the region will have been diagnosed with diabetes.

The latest statistics released by IDF Diabetes Atlas 5^th Edition also reveal the scale of the problem on a country by country basis across the MENA region.

Kuwait tops the table with the highest prevalence of diabetes at 21.1%, closely followed by Lebanon and Qatar, both at 20.2%.

The other countries in the region placed as follows: Saudi Arabia (20%), Bahrain (19.9%), UAE (19.2%), Egypt (16.9%), Libya (14.2%), Jordan (12.4%), Iran (11.3%), Oman (10.8%), Syria (10.2%), Yemen (9.9%), Tunisia (9.7%), Occupied Palestinian Territory (9.4%), Iraq (9.3%), Sudan (8.7%), Pakistan (8%), and Afghanistan (7.8%).

Algeria and Morocco have the lowest rates of diabetes in the MENA region, with 7% each.

Although many initiatives are in place across the MENA region to combat diabetes, these latest statistics reveal the scale of the problem to be tackled.