‘Diabetes prevalence among adult Jordanians stands at 34 per cent’

AMMAN — With 34 per cent of Jordanians aged above 25 years living with diabetes, health officials said promoting a healthy lifestyle, raising awareness and exercising are vital to combat the disease.

Jordan has one of the top 10 most overweight populations in the world, according to officials, who noted that diabetes is responsible for 70 per cent of kidney failure cases in the country and the leading cause of blindness.

Diabetes is a chronic disease, which occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. This leads to an increased concentration of glucose in the blood, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) website. 

Type 1 diabetes is characterised by a lack of insulin production, while type 2 is caused by the body’s ineffective use of insulin and often results from excess body weight and physical inactivity. 

By 2050, some 3.4 million Jordanians are expected to be living with diabetes mellitus, 3.7 million with hypertension and 2.93 million with high cholesterol. 

“A sedentary lifestyle and lack of physical exercise contribute to the increase in diabetes prevalence in the Kingdom, Rashad Nasser, head of the Jordanian Society of Endocrinology and Diabetes, said late Tuesday at an event held by the Jordanian Society for the Care of Diabetes (JSCD) and Sanofi to mark World Diabetes Day.

“There is a dire need for adopting healthy lifestyles and eating healthy food. Our meals rely heavily on cholesterol and fat. There is no focus on eating fruits, vegetables and fibre-rich food,” Nasser said at the event, held under the theme “Diabetes Healthy Eating: Begins with Breakfast.”

Kamel Ajlouni, director of the National Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Genetics, said more efforts are needed to fight the disease, calling for a systematic approach in raising awareness and promoting healthy lifestyles.

Ajlouni added that efforts in 2015 will focus on raising awareness in cooperation with the youth and women’s sectors as well as universities.

At a press conference prior to the event, JSCD President Mohammad Al Zahiri said the prevalence of diabetes among Jordanians aged 25 years and above stands at 34 per cent, which is higher than previous years.

“The percentage is similar to neighbouring countries, such as the Gulf states, where obesity rates are high,” Zahiri told reporters.

Diabetes is spreading even among teenagers and those below 20 years due to obesity, he said.

“The best solution is prevention. People need to exercise, follow a healthy life style, and keep away from fatty food,” Zahiri added.

He also noted that 3.5 out of 100,000 babies are born with diabetes in the country, highlighting the need for a national register to have accurate figures on diabetics.

The direct and indirect cost of diabetes (including treatment and inability of patients to work in some cases and have a normal life) costs the country more than JD1 billion annually, according to Nadim Jarrah, who heads the JSCD's scientific and education committee 

Jarrah said 50 per cent of kidney patients in Jordan who undergo dialysis are diabetics.

He added that a series of activities will be held this month to raise awareness on how to prevent diabetes and deal with the disease. 

World Diabetes Day raises global awareness of diabetes, its escalating rates around the world and how to prevent the illness in most cases. 

Initiated by WHO and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), the day is celebrated on November 14 every year to mark the birth of Frederick Banting who, along with Charles Best, was instrumental in the discovery of insulin in 1922, a life-saving treatment for diabetes patients, according to a WHO statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times.

The latest estimates from the IDF Diabetes Atlas indicate that there are 382 million people living with diabetes worldwide. 

By 2035, 592 million people or one person in ten will have the disease. A further 316 million people are currently at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes, with the number expected to increase to almost 500 million within a generation, according to the IDF. 

What makes the pandemic particularly menacing is that throughout much of the world, it remains hidden. Up to half of all people with diabetes globally remain undiagnosed, the IDF said.