Diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa: from clinical care to health policy

What is it about?

An aging population, lifestyle change, urbanization result in increasing the risk factors and prevalence of diabetes in Sub-saharan countries. Indeed, the overweight population increased from 28 million to 127 million between 1980 and 2015. Although indirect measure suggests its prevalence is increasing, the true burden of diabetes is unclear. This report presented the burden of diabetes in Sub-sahara Africa from the point of view of clinical, economic and health-system perspectives.

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Why is it important?

Once diabetes was seen as a condition that mainly affected rich people in high-income countries. Nowadays, it’s one of the leading contributors to death in all countries in the world, driven by increases in national and personal wealth. Diabetes itself can be treated very cheaply as it only requires medications (usually tablets) to lower glucose. But the long-term consequences, for example, heart attacks, strokes, blindness, and kidney failure, require specialists and specialist equipment to treat. These are very expensive. In other words, its aftermaths affect more in people living in lower-income countries, where health systems are not developed enough. However, in Sub-Saharan Africa, where is home to 34 of the world’s 48 least developed countries, basic information about diabetes have not been gathered.

Perspectives