Africa heading for diabetes epidemic
The International Diabetes Federation says that diabetes cases in sub-Saharan Africa will double by 2030, affecting 24 million people. In the 34 poorest African countries, the cost of insulin for one person is more than double the average income, while traditional healers and misguided views on obesity are also exacerbating the problem.
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The study, led by the University of Yaoundé and published in British medical journal The Lancet, said inadequate national prevention programmes and a lack of donor attention were "creating a pubilc health and socioeconomic time bomb".
Felix Assah, Yaoundé
Researcher Felix Assah, who participated in the study, says education about obesity would have to be undertaken carefully, pointing out that it's common to see obese people living in alongside those who are malnourished.
"These two have to be juggled carefully so the wrong messages don't get through," he says. "It's a common trait when societies change from subsistence economies to more advanced economies that obesity is seen as a sign of people who are doing well."
Access to medication is the second problem. Assah said access is improving, but there is a lot more to be done, especially for poor people and those living in remote areas.
"Insulin, for example, has to be stored in controlled conditions like in the refrigerator," he says. "In some of these remote areas where there is no electricity people who have diabetes are in the most difficulty."
There is still a high prevalence of people going to traditional healers, too.
"Diabetes patients can experience slow healing, and going to a healer for scarifications can mean they develop gangrene and need amputations," says Assah.
In 2010, an estimated six per cent of deaths in Africa will be caused by diabetes, a three-fold increase in the last 10 years.
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