If no urgent action is taken, the number of people living with
diabetes is expected to rise from 366 million in 2011 to 552
million by 2030, says the International Diabetes Federation's
(IDF) 5th edition of the Diabetes Atlas released today on World
Diabetes Day 2011. This equates to approximately 2 new cases
every 10 seconds or almost 10 million per year. IDF also
estimates that as many as 183 million people are unaware that
they have diabetes. In some of the poorest regions in the world
such as Africa, where infectious diseases have traditionally
been the focus of health care systems, diabetes cases are
expected to increase by 90% by 2030. At least 78% of people in
Africa are undiagnosed and do not know they are living with
diabetes. Other figures released today show: In the North
America and Caribbean region in 2011, an estimated 37.7 million
people live with diabetes and this is expected to increase by
more than a third by 2030. IDF also estimates that 11.9 million
people are living with diabetes in the r