Looking at a crowd of people, you'd be hard pressed to spot the people with diabetes. They look like anyone else - and it's perhaps this fact that fuels public apathy about the alarming surge in diabetes.
There are between two and four million diabetics in South Africa and the disease is reaching epidemic status, according to Sue Frye, Durban manager of the KwaZulu-Natal branch of the Diabetes Association of South Africa (DSA).
"Diabetes is on a par with malaria and Aids as one of the main causes of death in this country," she says.
"It is the new pandemic."
Public apathy surrounding diabetes is a major problem It is also one of the major causes of premature death worldwide. Every 10 seconds a person dies from diabetes-related causes and death rates are predicted to rise by 25 percent in the next decade.
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New data from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) show that more than 230 million people, almost six percent of the world's adult population, now lives with diabetes.
Previous figures underestimated the diabetes threat and the total is expected to rise.
"Diabetes is emerging as one of the biggest health catastrophes the world has ever seen," says Professor Martin Slink, president-elect of the IDF.
"The diabetes epidemic will overwhelm healthcare resources everywhere if governments do not wake up and take action now."
'Diabetes is not a death sentence' Despite these figures, little political effort has been made and Frye believes it's time for diabetes to be recognised in South Africa for the massive problem that it is. One of the problems, she says, is that there is no registry of diabetics in South Africa and for this reason she is urging people with diabetes to join Diabetes SA.
"Only by people joining the association can we get an idea of the number of diabetics in the country," she says.
"Without this, our pleas to government for improved medication and support are falling on deaf ears."
Public apathy surrounding diabetes is a major problem and to raise awareness, high-profile figures are throwing their weight behind publicity campaigns.
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