DIABETES: HANDICAP INTERNATIONAL TAKES ACTION ON EMERGING EPIDEMIC

P .Toutenu / Handicap International

Diabetes could become one of the world's major causes of disability over the next decades. Faced with a predicted epidemic, Handicap International is taking action to enhance prevention and care services and to support local partners. Almost 171 million people around the world were suffering from diabetes in 2000. This figure is set to double by 2030 to a total of 366 million people. In developing countries, the prevalence* of diabetes is likely to increase by 150% to 170% between 2000 and 2030. Handicap International's teams in the field have reported the emergence of this epidemic in the association's rehabilitation centres, where diabetes is a significant cause of amputations. This explosion in the diabetic population is due in particular to dietary and lifestyles changes, including a drop in physical activity, and to the urbanization and motorization of populations. However, despite warnings of a growing epidemic, the international community, northern countries and even southern countries remain unaware of the situation and few stakeholders are engaged in the fight against this disabling disease. Lesions that potentially result in disabling situations Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs if the pancreas does not secrete enough insulin or if the body does not use the insulin it produces properly. Insulin is a hormone that regulates the concentration of sugar in the blood. Hyperglycemia, an excessive concentration of sugar in the blood, is a common effect of diabetes that, over time, causes serious lesions that affect many parts of the body. In the long-term, diabetes can lead to heart failure, blindness, renal failure, impotence and amputation.

Diabetes could therefore become one of the world's leading causes of disability over the next decades. The World Health Organization and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) have launched a vast global awareness campaign to fight diabetes Handicap International is one of the first international NGOs to take action in the long-term to support this campaign against a future epidemic in southern countries. The campaign against diabetes is being implemented by the association with its local partners in the Philippines, Thailand, India, Nicaragua and Mali; several initiatives are currently in the pipeline, notably in Kenya and Burundi. They include, depending on needs in the field: - supporting care services for people with diabetes, to prevent the development of disabling complications - supporting diabetes associations to defend the rights of diabetics and their ability to voice their needs- national and international political advocacy actions to ensure diabetes is recognized as a public health priority - supporting diabetes prevention activities
*In epidemiology, prevalence is the measure of the state of health of a population at a given time. The prevalence of a given disease in a statistical population is defined as the total number of cases of the disease in a population at a given time.

For more information: - Website of the International Diabetes Federation - Website of the World Health Organization