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Sunday 15 June 2014

Where's the public outrage at the diabetes epidemic?

Worldwide, diabetes kills almost as many people a year as HIV/Aids, and the number of cases of Type 2 diabetes is set to increase by 50 per cent in the next decade. Why is so little being done to contain the epidemic?

Over a third of adults in England are at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal earlier this week – and the number of people at risk of suffering from diabetes has trebled in just ten years.

A few more worrying figures: there are currently 3.2 million people in the UK with Type 2 diabetes. A tenth of the NHS budget goes to treating the condition, according to the charity Diabetes UK. Type 2 diabetes can cut short your life expectancy by ten years. If not properly managed, it can lead to a range of complications including heart disease, blindness, kidney damage and nerve damage.

So are we doing enough to fight the disease? The obvious answer is no. We’re not even coming close.

Let’s look at the global problem too. The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that 1.5 million people die of diabetes a year, making it the eighth most common cause of death worldwide, and almost as deadly as HIV/Aids (which kills 1.7 million a year). Diabetes is often thought of a rich country disease, but it isn’t just that: 80 per cent of diabetes deaths are in low or middle income countries. In some Pacific Islands over a third of adults are diabetic, and in several Gulf countries over a quarter are. In American Samoa, a staggering 47 per cent of adults are diabetic.

We’re facing a global health crisis and yet there’s little sense from government that it’s being treated as one. Last year the all party parliamentary group for diabetes reported on the current state of healthcare provision and concluded, in the words of the chair Adrian Sanders, that "diabetes is one of the greatest challenges we face, yet diabetes healthcare is poor, patchy and expensive, and too many people with the condition are not getting the care or support they desperately need.”

In April, a doctor writing in the Spectator wrote that “medically speaking, I’d rather have HIV than diabetes.” His reasoning: thanks to advances in the treatment of the disease, the life expectancy of someone in the UK who is HIV positive is not all that different from someone that of someone without the condition. Those who are HIV positive and receive the right treatment (usually those in richer countries) are unlikely to suffer complications, and anti-retroviral drugs are now administered in tablet form. In contrast, most people with Type 2 diabetes face daily injections.

And, the good news is that globally, rates of HIV transmission are declining. According to the Global Fund, there were 2.3m new HIV infections registered in 2013 – which is still a lot, and the actual figure for HIV infections could be higher – but is nevertheless down 33 per cent since 2001. In contrast, WHO predicts that in the next decade, global cases of diabetes will increase by 50 per cent.

When it comes to the battle to contain the spread of HIV/Aids, it has helped that on an international scale, there are now huge multi-government funded agencies such as the Global Fund. This was set up in 2002 and by 2013 had distributed $16bn to various donors, from governments to NGOs to international development agencies, to combat the disease. UN Aids was set up almost a decade earlier, to co-ordinate the many different UN agencies working to combat the disease and tackle related problems from gender equality, to gay rights and legal protection for sex workers. The global effort to fight diabetes doesn’t come close.

Plus, long before these international co-ordinated efforts, we have to be grateful for the community activists of the 1980s who forced HIV/Aids on to national agendas, providing the initial impetus for the public awareness campaigns, charity outreach work, and medical research helping to contain the spread and impact of the illness. It’s time to get angry about diabetes in the UK, not only because at least 3.2 million people in the country are at risk of dying young, but because we know from the history of HIV/Aids how big a difference ordinary people getting angry can make.

Much like HIV, a significant proportion of new diabetes cases can be prevented. You can be unlucky, but there are ways of reducing the likelihood of developing the illness. The rise of Type 2 diabetes has been linked to rising obesity in the UK, so tackling under-nutrition and sedentary lifestyles is key.

And again, much like HIV, tackling diabetes is not just a medical issue – you need to look at the social context. There’s also a strong link between poverty and diabetes in Britain: those in the lowest income bracket are two and a half times more likely to develop diabetes than average. This is because those on lower incomes are more likely to be obese, to smoke, to lack exercise and to suffer from high blood pressure.

There will be no easy way of preventing the rise of diabetes. Just as with HIV/Aids, we have to hope for (and fund) the development of new life-lengthening and life-improving treatments. But it will also involve changing modern diets and lifestyles – and that’s not just a matter of changing behaviour, which is hard enough already, but tackling the deprivation that is so often a cause of bad health.

There’s no miracle cure, but there is one sure-fire way of ensuring that millions of people in the UK and globally die younger than they should, and that’s carrying on exactly as we are now. As things stand, the charity Diabetes UK estimate that by 2025 five million people in the country will have Type 2 diabetes. It doesn't have to be like this. Aren’t you a little bit angry?


Graham

12 comments:

Lisa said...

Prevention is so simple...

Galina L. said...

Prevention is simple on individual level only, but from the government point of view, you will have to turn many things upside down and to make decisions which would affect economy.

Mo said...

I'm not so sure prevention is that simple. Trouble is, most of the population ( not all ! ) have adopted the fast, easy, carb laden semi-sedentary way of life. It's only when we are diagnosed that some of us begin to change diet/lifestyle etc. Even once diagnosed, many still blindly carry on the way they were with ever increasing amounts of medication.

Lowcarb team member said...

Hi Lisa and Galina

Many thanks for your comments. Prevention can be so simple if the individual allows - but then I'm not a diabetic just someone who cares.

Thanks for your continued support.

All the best Jan

Lowcarb team member said...

Many thanks for your comment Mo,

Eddie is having a break for the moment but he thanks you for taking the time and effort to comment here, and for your efforts on the forum.

All the best Jan

Galina L. said...

You are welcome, Jan. I think diabetes is not the only problem of a modern society, and the obesity is not the main evil now, just the most visible part. That is why there is no public outcry about diabetic numbers - too many things are bad now health-wise. I am personally concerned about the growing number of allergies. However, the diet change you blog promotes and I support would improve the situation with a wide spectrum of modern deceases.

Anonymous said...

Public outrage, anger,

Prevention,

Apathy,

Lets not forget "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
― Hippocrates

Could it be that easy?

Galina L. said...

No, Anonimous,
the idea that food is the medicine makes it harder for many people because they can't just take a pill and have to think before eating. Many complain about developing a food anxiety and even panicking because their minds start to wonder "what if I am eating my poison?".

Anonymous said...

Taking pills can help but diet and exercise is important too.
The world needs to wake up to this epidemic of diabetes and obesity.
James

diabetic said...

Type 2 diabetes can easily be prevented/avoided and managed. Generally speaking if you have a good metabolism in your child and teen years that chances of getting a health problem decreases dramatically.

Mo said...

Hope all is well with Eddie, a little break from the grind won't hurt. Meanwhile, you're doing a great job Jan. Give Vader my best ! Take care, Mo :-)

Lowcarb team member said...

Mo said...
Hope all is well with Eddie, a little break from the grind won't hurt. Meanwhile, you're doing a great job Jan. Give Vader my best ! Take care, Mo :-)

Eddies ok Mo he's on the road a lot at this time of year, in fact he's in my neck of the woods and I'll be meeting Eddie and Jan here tomorrow for a meal and a beer or three.

Cheers
Graham