World Health Day 2016 Targets Diabetes,
as Cases Increase at an Alarming Rate Worldwide

BY ALLISON KOZICHAROW AND BERNICE BORN

 

 

World Health Day falls on April 7, the birthday of the World Health Organization (WHO), which targets an area of global health concern each year. For 2016 their topic is diabetes, with the theme of “Beat Diabetes.”

 

The statistics on diabetes are staggering. A just-released WHO study on diabetes states that in 2014 this noncommunicable disease affected 422 million people globally — mostly in low- and middle-income countries where the majority of diabetes deaths occur. WHO states that the almost four-fold rise in diabetes cases in the last quarter century is likely due to obesity, aging and population growth.

 

WHO’s goal is to increase awareness about the rise in diabetes and its global burden. It urges people to act to prevent diabetes and to diagnose, treat and care for those with diabetes.

 

WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan said, “We need to rethink our daily lives: to eat healthily, be physically active and avoid excessive weight gain.”

 

For further information, the WiRED Learning Center offers more than a dozen health education modules on type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes as well as on their complications and consequences.