Diabetes became more prevalent in Pakistan in 2021 as more than 33 million adults are now living with the disease, a report by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) has revealed. Where deaths due to the disease are concerned, diabetes accounted for more than 400,000 deaths in the country during 2021 which is more than any other country in the region.
Deaths from diabetes in 2021 are significantly higher than dengue and COVID-19 which accounted for over 200 and 18,000 deaths in the same period respectively.
The report titled “10th IDF Diabetes Atlas” revealed that one in four Pakistanis or 26.7% of the country’s population has diabetes which is the highest prevalence rate for any country in the world.
According to the report, Pakistan has the third-largest population suffering from the disease after China and India which have 141 million and 74 million people battling with the ailment respectively.
Besides, more than 11 million Pakistani are suffering from Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT) which puts them at the risk of them developing type-2 diabetes.
The rate of diagnosis of diabetes in the country remains extremely low as well as IDF has estimated that more than a quarter of adults or 26.9% of adults are living with undiagnosed diabetes.
Undiagnosed or inadequately treated diabetes puts the patients at increased risk of developing life-threatening complications such as heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, blindness, and lower-limb amputation.
Diabetes has increased significantly globally as well as 537 million people were diagnosed with the disease worldwide in 2021.
Speaking in this regard, Professor Abdul Basit, co-author of the report and Director Baqai Institute of Diabetology and Endocrinology, said that the unprecedented rise in the number of diabetes patients poses a major challenge to the healthcare infrastructure of the country.
Professor Abdul Basit called on the government to ensure the provision of an affordable and continuous supply of insulin to diabetes patients as most of them are unable to either afford or access it.
