INDIA IS THE DIABETES CAPITAL OF THE WORLD!
The diabetes capital of the world with as many as 50 million people suffering from type-2 diabetes, India has a challenge to face. However, medical experts feel that timely detection and right management can go a long way in helping patients lead a normal life. Diabetes might be one of the most talked-about diseases across the world and especially in India, but awareness about the same can well be estimated by the fact that India today has more people with type-2 diabetes (more than 50 million) than any other nation.
With the country having the highest number of diabetic patients in the world, the sugar disease is posing an enormous health problem to our country today. Often known as the diabetes capital of the world, India has been witnessing an alarming rise in the incidence of diabetes according to the International Journal of Diabetes in Developing Countries. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) fact sheet on diabetes, an estimated 3.4 million deaths are caused due to high blood sugar.
The WHO also estimates that 80 percent of diabetes deaths occur in low and middle-income countries and projects that such deaths will double between 2016 and 2030. It has been further estimated that the global burden of type-2 diabetes is expected to increase to 438 million by 2030 from 285 million people (recorded in 2010). Similarly, for India, this increase is estimated to be 58%, from 51 million people in 2010 to 87 million in 2030. But debates, discussions, and deliberations aside, the fundamental thing is to know what exactly diabetes is.
To put it simply, it is a medical condition that is caused due to insufficient production and secretion of insulin from the pancreas in case of Type-I diabetes and the defective response of insulin Type-2 diabetes. Under normal body circumstances, blood glucose levels are tightly controlled by insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas. Insulin lowers the blood glucose level. When the blood glucose elevates (for example, after eating food), insulin is released from the pancreas to normalize the glucose level. In patients with diabetes, the absence or insufficient production of insulin causes hyperglycemia.
Diabetes is a chronic medical condition, that is, it can be curbed at the initial level by introducing lifestyle changes and controlled after its incidence through medicines in early stages and administration of external insulin in advanced stages. But it would not be wrong to say that it cannot be cured completely and lasts a lifetime.
Diabetes mellitus is one of the world’s major diseases. It currently affects an estimated 143 million people worldwide and the number is growing rapidly. In India, about 5 percent population suffers from diabetes. Medical health experts assert that regular check-ups and timely detection plays a vital role in controlling and managing the problem. Ironically, due to patient resistance and feeling of disbelief that ‘I can have diabetes too’, most patients tend to defer on detection and treatment that often leads to complications.
Practitioners feel that patient adherence to medication and lifestyle modifications play an important role in diabetes management and this can help them lead a normal life. Un-monitored prevalence of diabetes also results in an increased risk of vascular complications like cardiovascular, renal, neural, and visual disorders which are related to the duration of the disease.
• Diabetes might be one of the most talked-about diseases across the world and especially in India, but awareness about the same can well be estimated by the fact that India today has more people with type-2 diabetes.
• The WHO also estimates that 80 percent of diabetes deaths occur in low and middle-income countries and projects that such deaths will double between 2016 and 2030.
