With thanks to Global Health Now (a great way to keep updated on global health news):
'44% of people with diabetes worldwide are undiagnosed, finds an analysis published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, which looked at data from 204 countries and territories from 2000 to 2023'
CITATION: Global, regional, and national cascades of diabetes care, 2000–23: a systematic review and modelling analysis using findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study
Lauryn K Stafford et al.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(25)00217-7/abstract
INTERPRETATION
'Despite improvements over the past two decades, underdiagnosis and suboptimal glycaemic management of diabetes remain major challenges globally, particularly in low-income and middle-income countries. These findings highlight the urgent need for enhanced strategies and capacity building to improve the detection, treatment, and management of diabetes worldwide. Targeted interventions to bolster health-care systems' capacity to effectively diagnose and manage diabetes could lead to better health outcomes and reduce the burden of this growing disease.'
COMMENT (NPW): Diabetes is often described as the 'silent killer'. Complications and premature death can only be prevented if the disease is diagnosed. If someone is diabetic, or pre-diabetic, they need to know about it. It is part of the 'reliable healthcare inforamtion that every person needs to protect their own health and the health of others'. This paper estimates that nearly half of people worldwide who have diabetes remain undiagnosed. There are an estimated 880 million people in the world with diabetes (and the number is rising fast). This suggests that perhaps 400 million people with diabetes are unaware they have the disease - around 5% of the world's population is deprived of basic knowledge that would help them to protect their health.
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org