CHENNAI: If you are over 40, overweight, had a sedentary occupation and a family history of diabetes, you come under the risk group and must be tested for it, said Martin Silink, newly elected president of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).

According to the 2007 projection of the disease, published in the Diabetes Atlas 2006 by the IDF, India leads the world with 40.9 million diabetics, half of whom are yet to be diagnosed. The prevalence of it in the 20-79 years age group is 6.2 per cent. The atlas says that by 2025, India will remain in the first position with 69.9 million (a rise of nearly 30 million) sufferers of the disease, with 7.6 per cent prevalence in the same age group.

Dr. Silink is in town to receive the 15th Dr. Mohan's DSC Gold Medal Oration Award on Sunday. He and Dr. V. Mohan, Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, spoke to mediapersons at a press conference on Saturday about the seriousness of the situation worldwide, particularly in India.

Even the United Nations had taken note of the situation and recently, the U.N. General Assembly of 192 nations agreed that diabetes was a societal problem undermining the benefits of economic development. A resolution was passed to fight the disease, only the second time in history this has been done with regard to a specific disease (the first was AIDS). The U.N. branded diabetes with a symbol, a blue circle that would serve the same purpose as the red ribbon for AIDS. Dr. Silink also said that once a person was diagnosed with the non-communicable disease there were "simple, effective and affordable medicines that can prevent complications."

And to prevent it, society must improve the living environment, he said.

Dr. Mohan announced the inauguration of the `WDF-MDRF-ISRO Rural Diabetes Telemedicine Project' on Sunday. It would be offered to patients in Chunampet and neighbouring villages in Kancheepuram District, Tamil Nadu. It aimed at tracking the onset of the disease in rural India and make health care accessible to them. The project had been undertaken with the support of the World Diabetes Foundation (WDF), Denmark and the National Agro-Foundation.

It would be held in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation, Bangalore, which is providing the satellite connection for the telemedicine facility.

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