Title: Type 2 Diabetes Rates Quadruple Worldwide Since 1980
Headings: Type 2 Diabetes Rates Quadruple Worldwide Since 1980
News > Medscape Medical News
Type 2 Diabetes Rates Quadruple Worldwide Since 1980

Content: Targeting Obesity Is the Key to Preventing Diabetes
In an editorial in the Lancet accompanying the global diabetes article, Etienne Krug, MD, MPH, director of the department of management of noncommunicable diseases, disability, violence and injury prevention, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland, says: " The news is not good. With diabetes in the World Health Day spotlight, the question is, how will the world and its leaders respond to the alarm?" Targeting and reducing obesity is a major issue that needs to be addressed worldwide, he stresses, noting, "If we are to halt the rise in diabetes, we need to focus on prevention. We need to make sure we halt the rise in overweight and obesity." Tackling obesity will require societywide efforts, taxation measures, working with the private sector for better food labeling, improving education about the contents of food and the importance of physical activity, and urban planning that promotes walking and cycling safely to school and work. Also important is the promotion of breast feeding and encouragement in healthier eating at a very young age, for establishing good habits. "In addition to prevention, we also need to limit the consequences of diabetes," he stresses, calling for better and earlier diagnosis and access to treatment. For example, three-quarters of low-income countries do not have adequate access to insulin, as indicated in the WHO 2016 Global Diabetes report, Dr Krug explains. And the work by Dr Ezzati and colleagues estimates the direct annual costs of diabetes worldwide to be approximately $825 billion in 2014.