The number of adults living with diabetes worldwide has surpassed 800 million, more than quadrupling since 1990, according to new data released by an international medical journal, The Lancet, during the World Diabetes Day.
According to the study, global diabetes prevalence in adults rose from 7% to 14% between 1990 and 2022.
Low and middle-income countries (LMICs) experienced the largest increases, where diabetes rates have soared, while treatment access remains persistently low.
According to the report, this trend has led to stark global inequalities where in 2022, almost 450 million adults aged 30 and older about 59 percent of all adults with diabetes remained untreated, marking a 3.5-fold increase in untreated people since 1990. Ninety per cent of these untreated adults are living in LMICs.
The analysis, conducted by the Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC) with support from the World Health Organization (WHO), highlights the scale of the diabetes epidemic and an urgent need for stronger global action to address both rising disease rates and widening treatment gaps, particularly LMICs.
In a press release by the World Health Organization, Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there has been an alarming rise in diabetes over the past three decades, which reflects the increase in obesity, compounded by the impacts of the marketing of unhealthy food, lack of physical activity and economic hardship.
“To bring the global diabetes epidemic under control, countries must urgently take action. This starts with enacting policies that support healthy diets and physical activity, and, most importantly, health systems that provide prevention, early detection and treatment,” he said.
The study further reveals substantial global differences in diabetes rates, with the prevalence of diabetes among adults aged 18 and older, being around 20 percent in South-East Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean Regions.
These two regions, together with the African Region, have the lowest rates of diabetes treatment coverage, where fewer than 4 in 10 adults with diabetes take glucose-lowering medication for their diabetes.
The World Health Organization has also launched a new global monitoring framework on diabetes to address the soaring diabetes burden.
This product represents a crucial step in the global response, providing comprehensive guidance to countries in measuring and evaluating diabetes prevention, care, outcomes and impacts.
According to WHO, by tracking key indicators such as glycemic control, hypertension and access to essential medicines, countries can improve targeted interventions and policy initiatives.
This standardized approach will further empower countries to prioritize resources effectively, driving significant improvements in diabetes prevention and care.
In 2022, WHO established five global diabetes coverage targets to be achieved by 2030. One of these targets is to ensure that 80 percent of people with diagnosed diabetes achieve good glycemic control.
Today’s release underlines the scale and urgency of action needed to advance efforts to close the gap.
This latest study published in The Lancent is the first global analysis of trends in both diabetes rates and treatment coverage that is based on data from over 140 million people aged 18 years, or older that were included in more than 1000 studies covering populations in all countries.
By Wangari Ndirangu
