JOHANNESBURG, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- More than 380
million people worldwide would be living with diabetes by the time today's
children reach their thirties and forties, if no action is taken to reverse
current prevalence, medical experts have warned.
They told the 19th World Diabetes Congress in Cape
Town that the current generation of children and adolescents would bear the
future force of the growing epidemic of diabetes, which currently plagues 240
million people globally, the official BuaNews agency reported Wednesday.
The ongoing conference has gathered 12,000 delegates
from around the world to share expertise on diabetes. Of particular concern is
the rising incidence of type 2 diabetes among the young generation, which is
clearly linked to the rise in obesity among adolescents.
"More than 200 children a day now develop diabetes.
For many children from the developing world, the outlook is bleak," said
Francine Kaufman, who chairs the Consultative Section on Childhood and
Adolescent Diabetes under the International Diabetes Foundation (IDF).
She said many children with diabetes died because
they were diagnosed late or misdiagnosed.
"Many die because insulin is unavailable or in short
supply. In Mozambique, for example, a person with type 1 diabetes will die
within one year of diagnosis," BuaNews quoted Kaufman as saying.
The chronic disease comes in two forms: type 1
diabetes is caused by the pancreas's inability to produce insulin, which is
essential for regulating blood sugar; in type 2 diabetes the body cannot use the
insulin it produces.
"We are seeing an alarming increase of both type 1
and type 2 diabetes in children. We need to act now to prevent early onset of
complications and possible death," Kaufman said.
The IDF said new figures showed that over 70,000
children develop type 1 diabetes each year and that 440,000 children worldwide
under the age of 14 now live with type 1 diabetes.
At the same time, type 2 diabetes, previously unheard
of in children, is rising at alarming rates, especially among ethnic minorities.
The conference also takes a special look at diabetes
in Africa, which is often plagued by communicable diseases such as malaria and
HIV/AIDS.
Rapid cultural and social changes, such as growing
urbanization and the adoption of unhealthy lifestyles, are resulting in an
increase in the number of Africans with and at risk of type 2 diabetes, the
conference heard.
