02/05/2022
The incidences and prevalence of Diabtes in sub-Saharan Africa is really worrying. Read more
Keywords: Amputations, diabetes, hyperglycemia, insulin, neuropathy, tropical diabetes, world diabetes foundation
Introduction
The incidence of diabetes, especially type 2, is rapidly growing in the world. In 1985, an estimated 30 million people suffered with this chronic disease, which, by the end of 2006, had increased to 230 million, representing 6% of the world population. Of this number, 80% is found in the developing world.[1,2] It is estimated that, during the next 35 years, diabetic world-wise prevalence will reach 25%, with India being the hardest hit. For a long time, Africa was considered safe from many of the diseases that are called βdiseases of affluence,β which plague the Western world. Similarly, there was a time when Africa was thought to be a continent, relatively free of diabetes mellitus illnesses. Today, however, diabetes is very uncommon in Africa, a situation that seemed to have remained virtually static until the 1990s and more recently.[3β6] Indeed, from 1959 to the mid-1980s, medical statistics showed that the prevalence rate of diabetes in Africa was equal to or less then 1.4%, with the exception of South Africa, where the rate was estimated to be as high as 3.6% in 2001.[7β9] But, by 1994, the continent-wise prevalence of diabetes mellitus stood at 3 million and was then predicted to double or triple by the year 2010.[10,11] Approximately, 7.1 million Africans were said to be suffering from diabetes at the end of 2000, a figure that was expected to rise to 18.6 million by 2030.[12]
As more data were made available worldwide, scientists found that the adult population of Indian descent, Africans on the continent, and their descendants in the Diaspora, and whites living in Africa, especially in South Africa and Tanzania, had the highest diabetes prevalence, respectively.