As income levels rise around the world, health experts expect a more troubling figure to increase as well: the number of diabetics in developing countries.
In China and India, two of the world’s most populous nations with fast-paced economies, the prevalence of diabetes is expected to double by 2025.
Between 15 and 20 percent of their adult population will develop the disease as household budgets increase, diets change to include more calories and new health problems emerge.
Clearly, China, India and other developing countries are not fully prepared for, nor are they willing to deal with, the rising trend of diabetes
Not surprisingly the growing number of diabetics are currently not getting the care they need to prevent serious complications, Stanford researchers say.
Even looking at it from the unrealistic US medical insurance perspective, many diabetics cannot afford, nor have access to, essential medications that could help them manage their conditions.
In many cases, people are spending a great deal of their household incomes to pay for treatment, said Jeremy Goldhaber-Fiebert, an assistant professor of medicine who led the research team.
“The US model of Public and Private health insurance programs are not openly in place or are simply unaffordable for the majority of citizens in India and China, so this is not an option in providing sufficient protection from diabetics in most developing countries,” said Goldhaber-Fiebert, a faculty member at Stanford Health Policy at the university’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
“The very few people who can afford some form of insurance aren’t doing any better than those who don’t have it because it is not controlled or legislated properly."
"Health insurance and health systems in developing countries need to be 're-oriented' to better address long term conditions and chronic diseases like diabetes.”
Findings from the study are online and will be published in the Jan. 24 edition of Diabetes Care, the journal of the American Diabetes Association.
In China and India, two of the world’s most populous nations with fast-paced economies, the prevalence of diabetes is expected to double by 2025.
Between 15 and 20 percent of their adult population will develop the disease as household budgets increase, diets change to include more calories and new health problems emerge.
Clearly, China, India and other developing countries are not fully prepared for, nor are they willing to deal with, the rising trend of diabetes
Not surprisingly the growing number of diabetics are currently not getting the care they need to prevent serious complications, Stanford researchers say.
Even looking at it from the unrealistic US medical insurance perspective, many diabetics cannot afford, nor have access to, essential medications that could help them manage their conditions.
In many cases, people are spending a great deal of their household incomes to pay for treatment, said Jeremy Goldhaber-Fiebert, an assistant professor of medicine who led the research team.
“The US model of Public and Private health insurance programs are not openly in place or are simply unaffordable for the majority of citizens in India and China, so this is not an option in providing sufficient protection from diabetics in most developing countries,” said Goldhaber-Fiebert, a faculty member at Stanford Health Policy at the university’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
“The very few people who can afford some form of insurance aren’t doing any better than those who don’t have it because it is not controlled or legislated properly."
"Health insurance and health systems in developing countries need to be 're-oriented' to better address long term conditions and chronic diseases like diabetes.”
Findings from the study are online and will be published in the Jan. 24 edition of Diabetes Care, the journal of the American Diabetes Association.
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