26% of Pakistan's population diabetic: Survey
The National Diabetes survey has also revealed that around 14% more people may be patients of diabetes in the future. Photo: Reuters
(Web Desk) - According to a recent national survey, 26% of Pakistan’s total population is diabetic.
The survey conducted during 2016-2017 states that almost 35 to 40 million children under the age of 20 are victims of diabetes.
According to BBC Urdu, the results determined through the national diabetes survey were released to the public in a health conference on Friday.
The figures gathered through the survey are higher than the outcomes that were expected by the policy makers and experts in the health sector.
National Diabetes survey regulated by the Baqai Institute of Diabetology and Endocrinology (BIDE) in collaboration with Pakistan Ministry of Health, Health Research Council and International Health Organisation, is the first ever survey of its kind within the last 5 years to be conducted in Pakistan or any other developing country on such a large scale.
Professor Abdul Basit of BIDE told BBC Urdu that 7-8 percent of Pakistan’s population, that is 7 to 8 million people, had been estimated to be patients of diabetes. The experts believed that the estimated figures would reach a maximum of 15-20 percent by the year 2045. But unexpectedly 26% of the country’s population is already diabetic, which Prof. Basit says is very dangerous for everyone.
The National Diabetes survey was carried out across the country in all four provinces – urban and rural areas – including the capital. Seventeen teams of exploration experts were part of the project. These teams starting in August last year, on the directions of the International Health Organisation, tested around eleven thousand people for diabetes out of which 7.14% new patients of diabetes were discovered – people who themselves didn’t know that they had diabetes.
Professor Abdul Basit said, “More than 19% of people didn’t know they had diabetes and got to know about it through the tests that were conducted during the survey.”
Professor Abdul Basit of BIDE. Photo: BBC Urdu
The National Diabetes survey has also revealed that around 14% more people may be patients of diabetes in the future.
The samples collected during the survey will further be tested to determine the reasons behind the disease spreading with such haste, and this may take up to another six months.
According to Professor Abdul Basit, a survey on such a large scale was last conducted in Pakistan 20 years ago that lasted for 4 years. The results of this recent survey will help in determining the causes behind diabetes in Pakistan other than the already known reasons, including weight of a new born, mother’s diet, packaged milk, and other social or economic problems.
Experts say, now that the results of the survey have come out, changes should be made in health related policies, and awareness programs should be carried out in schools to eradicate diabetes from the country.
