Cape Town - As many as 90 000 South Africans died from diabetes this year, and with millions more living with the disease, the number may continue to grow.
According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), the problem is much bigger than previously reported, with 4.5 million people living with diabetes. More than double that of two years ago.
The IDF’s 2019 Diabetes Atlas shows 12.7% of adults in South Africa had diabetes in 2019, a 137% increase on the 2017 figure of 5.4%. This means the country has become one of the top 10 countries for an absolute increase in diabetes prevalence.
Diabetes is a condition in the body when it either cannot make enough insulin or is unable to fully use the amount it produces.
While there are millions of undiagnosed diabetes cases around the world, Sough Africa is no better, according to the IDF, an estimated 2 million people are living with diabetes but unaware of it.
Globally, an estimated 463 million adults are living with diabetes, and 19 million are in Africa alone. Type 2 diabetes accounts for up to 90% of the total, it said. Diabetes is among the top 10 causes of death.
November 14 marked World Diabetes Day, a global awareness campaign focused on the disease.
According to the IDF global research, the IDF Diabetes Atlas reveals that the “staggering rise in prevalence is putting a strain on the country
to guarantee regular and affordable access to essential medicines and appropriate care”. Untreated or undiagnosed diabetes can lead to a high risk of blindness, amputation, kidney failure, heart attack and stroke.
Ayesha A Motala of the IDF Diabetes Atlas Committee and professor and head of the department of diabetes and endocrinology at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital in Durban, said 2.4 million adults live with Type 2 diabetes in the country.
Though causes are not completely understood, it is believed there is a strong link with obesity and increasing age, as well as with ethnicity and family history.
There are as many as 1600 cases of Type 1 diabetes. Type 1 is caused by an autoimmune reaction in which the body’s immune system attacks the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. As a result, the body produces little or no insulin.
Amahle Msomi, 36, from Kuils River, told Weekend Argus she has been living with Type 2 diabetes for years. “I found out when I was pregnant with my first child eight years ago. My pregnancy was high risk because of my diabetes.
“But since then, I have learnt to manage it, and I have changed my diet to avoid falling seriously ill. My father died from diabetes, so it runs in the family.”