TEHRAN – The national diabetes week is being held from November 12-18 under the theme of “Access to Diabetes Care”, concurrent with World Diabetes Day 2022, ISNA reported on Saturday.

World Diabetes Day is an official UN day, held on November 14, commemorating the birthday of Dr. Fredrick Banting, a co-discoverer of insulin. 

This year’s World Diabetes Day theme, set by the International Diabetes Federation, is “Access to diabetes education”, under the larger multi-year theme of access to care.

According to global estimates, the number of diabetics in West Asia and North Africa region will increase by 96 percent over the next 25 years.Iran also marks the day during a week, each day of the week has been assigned a special theme this year as follows:

Saturday, November 12: “Pre-diabetes education, prevention, and healthy lifestyle”

Sunday, November 13: “Diabetes education, community, schools and family”

Monday, November 14: “Protect our future with diabetes education”

Tuesday, November 15: “Diabetes education, self-care”

Wednesday, November 16: “Diabetes education, media, and digital health”

Thursday, November 17: “Diabetes education, service providers, doctors, nurses, health care providers”

Friday, November 18: “Diabetes education, access to medicine and treatment, and the role of insurance”

 Diabetes prevalence

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) kill 41 million people each year, equivalent to 71 percent of all deaths globally.

Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and respiratory diseases are the cause of more than 80 percent of premature deaths due to non-communicable diseases. An unhealthy diet, smoking, physical inactivity, and alcohol consumption are the main related risk factors.

According to global estimates, the number of diabetics in West Asia and North Africa region will increase by 96 percent over the next 25 years.

In recent decades, the prevalence of diabetes and the number of deaths due to diabetes in the world has increased dramatically, and this increase has been much greater for type 2 diabetes.

About 500 million people worldwide have diabetes, the majority living in low-and middle-income countries, and 1.6 million deaths are directly attributed to diabetes each year.

In Iran, diabetics make up about 11.5 percent of the population.

About 6 million people of Iran's diabetic population are aware and the other half are unaware of their diabetes. The figure is 50 percent in the world and 60 percent in West Asia and North Africa region.

Both the number of cases and the prevalence of diabetes have been steadily increasing over the past few decades. As it is expected that by 2030, 578 million people will develop diabetes, and the number of patients may exceed 700 million by 2045.

In 2019, 4.2 million people died of diabetes. And now, 50 percent of coronavirus patients were diabetic.

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