Kerala - Kollam   

`Diabetes kills one every 10 seconds'

Staff Reporter

`Number of diabetics may touch 350 million world wide'

KOLLAM: On the occasion of the World Diabetes Day falling on Tuesday, the International Diabetes Foundation (IDF) has said that diabetes kills one person every 10 seconds in the world. In the same 10 seconds two people contract diabetes and the number of people with diabetes is increasing by seven million each year.

Within a generation, the number of diabetics in the world is expected to touch 350 million, the statement of the IDF issued here by the Kollam branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) stated. Poverty and social exclusion increase the risk of developing diabetes.

It is the economically disadvantaged communities that are most vulnerable to diabetes and least equipped to seek care and prevent the onset of diabetes complications, the statement said.

Poor people with diabetes in developing countries spent 25 per cent of their annual income on their caring for their condition. As a consequence, the economically disadvantaged are pushed further into poverty and can even be faced with the terrible choice to either pay for the treatment and face catastrophic debt or neglect their health and face disability or death. The IDF statement at the same time states that the impact of diabetes can be reduced, delayed or even prevented by improving the living environment.

Diabetes Day Walk

As part of observing the World Diabetes Day, the Kollam branch of the IMA, in association with the Rotary Club of Quilon, National Library and the Dr. Nair's Hospital is organising a Diabetes Day Walk. It will start from Kadappakada at 8 a.m. and will be flagged off by District Collector B. Srinivas. District Medical Officer Elizabeth John Zacharia, Lions Club president Anil Vijayakumar and Rotary club president Alfred V. Samuel will lead the walk. A diabetes identification camp and an awareness programme against the disease will follow.

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