Malaysia has 700,000 unknowing diabetics

According to a new report from the Malaysian Health Ministry, there could be as many as 700,000 diabetics suffering in silence who are undiagnosed and unaware that they have the condition or that medical services could help them.
The parliamentary secretary to the health ministry, Datuk Lee Kah Choo, said that they would implement widespread free health checks, in order to identify who is suffering. According to the ministry, over two million people in Malaysia are suffering from the disease, some 35 per cent unaware of their disease.
Diabetes is an enormous and emerging problem in Asia, with several of the world’s diabetes hotspots concentrated in the region. In this part of the world, diabetes, particularly type 2, is a more recently occurring phenomenon. The rate of growth for the disease has been influenced by the erosion of traditional diet and exercise patterns, which have been replaced by an unhealthy diet and a sedentary way of life.
Many experts predict an enormous healthcare crisis caused by diabetes to engulf Asia later in this century.