KABUL, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- More than 19,700 people lost their lives due to diabetes in Afghanistan annually, the country's public health ministry said on Wednesday.
"The 2012 International Diabetes Federation finding shows that 19,773 out of some 849,000 people affected by diabetes die of the disease annually in Afghanistan," Dr. Qamaruddin Hafiz, a senior official of the ministry, was quoted in a statement issued by the ministry as saying.
Hafiz has assured that the ministry was making efforts to find the causes of the non-communicable disease and draw attention of the people to the preliminary diagnosis and treatment of the illness.
On Tuesday, the country marked the World Diabetes Day with a theme of raising awareness among the people and to reduce the disease rate, according to the statement.
Women are mostly the victims of diabetes as the official said more than 199 million women are affected by diabetes and the number is feared to surpass 313 million by 2040, all over the world, the statement noted.
Created in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), World Diabetes Day is marked annually on Nov. 14 all over the world.
