Dangers of diabetes

Tackling the scourge of the disease calls for urgent, concerted efforts, lest it spiral out of control.

Diabetes, a chronic disease caused by high glucose levels in the blood, consistently figures as one of the ten leading causes of death globally. The number of people with diabetes has doubled over the past 30 years, with over 800 million people worldwide now living with the condition, according to a new report by The Lancet . Like most non-communicable diseases, the prevalence of diabetes is particularly high in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In Nepal , 8.5 percent of the population is affected by this disease, and alarmingly, the infection rate continues to rise. Worse, poor countries also have younger people suffering from it, but they lack effective treatment, and the disease often goes unnoticed. By all accounts, diabetes has emerged as a growing public health crisis, calling for urgent measures to combat it.