Source: Daily Record

World Diabetes Day
But the soaring rate of people with diabetes threatens to overwhelm health systems and undermine economies, health specialists say. The problem has mobilized world health leaders, who are marking World Diabetes Day on Wednesday to draw attention to the issue. For the first time, the United Nations is taking part in such activities and has passed a resolution encouraging member states to develop national policies to prevent and treat diabetes.
The International Diabetes Federation, which tracks global diabetes, says the disease will cause 3.8 million deaths worldwide this year, nearly equal to HIV/AIDS and malaria combined. In the USA, the CDC says, it is the sixth leading cause of death, contributing to nearly 225,000 deaths in 2002, up from 213,064 in 2000.
"The prevalence of diabetes is going up because obesity is going up," says Judith Fradkin, director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. "But if we hadn't made the progress we have, things would be much worse."