Diabetes cases hit record and half go undiagnosed A registered
nurse teaches a diabetic patient how to draw her own insulin
injections during a house call. (John Moore, Getty Images) The
number of people living with diabetes is now put at 371 million,
up from 366 million a year ago, with numbers expected to reach
552 million by 2030, the International Diabetes Federation (IDF)
said. Diabetes is often viewed as a western problem, since the
vast majority of people have type 2 disease which is linked to
obesity and lack of exercise. But the disease is also spreading
rapidly in poorer countries, alongside urbanization, and four
out of five diabetics now live in low and middle-income
countries, opening up new opportunities and challenges for the
drug industry. China alone has 92.3 million people with
diabetes, more than any other nation in the world, and the
hidden burden is also enormous in sub-Saharan Africa where
limited healthcare means less than a fifth of cases get
diagnosed. The IDF estimates that, globally