80 per cent of people with diabetes in developing countries

Diabetes is now truly global, with 80 per cent of the diabetic population of the world in developing countries. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) recently published information in the Diabetes Atlas that showed four out of five people with diabetes live in the developing world. Most men and women affected by the condition are of working age.
The president of the IDF, Jean Claude Mbanya, reportedly commented: “It is dismal news that some 285 million people live with diabetes today. Even worse, low and middle-income countries are bearing the brunt of the disease.”
The WHO has also put together a series of predictions relating to the cost of diabetes to the world economy. Mbanya was keen to stress that type 2 diabetes is often preventable, he reportedly continued: “Families are losing breadwinners, parents are losing children, children are losing mothers. Much of this tragic loss of life is preventable.”