Staggering Rise in Diabetes Worldwide

In its Fifth Edition of the “IDF Diabetes Atlas,” the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) reports that 366 million people worldwide now have diabetes, up from the 300 million estimated in the 2009 edition of the Report.  Moreover, the disease is responsible for 4.6 million deaths annually. Overall global spending on patient care for diabetes is $465 billion.  Experts call for attention to the diabetes epidemic, which has truly become an urgent global disease issue. Projections estimate that nearly 600 million people will have diabetes within the next 20 years.