Learn about the global diabetes crisis, including types, prevalence worldwide and in Arab countries, risk factors like obesity, and important facts from organizations like WHO and IDF.
Diabetes has become a widespread chronic disease in recent years, taking on alarming proportions globally. According to statistics from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) in 2014, approximately 1 in every 12 people worldwide suffers from diabetes. This makes it a significant global health challenge.
In light of the escalating prevalence, the World Health Organization (WHO) marks World Health Day annually, celebrated on April 7th, to raise awareness about diabetes. This initiative aims to educate individuals about the disease, alleviate the burden on those affected, and encourage healthy lifestyles to prevent its onset.
A General Overview of Diabetes
Diabetes is considered one of the most common chronic diseases, classified into two main types:
- Type 1 Diabetes: In this type, the body is unable to produce insulin, necessitating insulin injections.
- Type 2 Diabetes: This form accounts for approximately 90% of diabetes cases. The body either doesn’t produce enough insulin or cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Many individuals with this type are overweight or obese, often in addition to genetic factors.
Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar levels. Without it, the body cannot properly process glucose, leading to elevated blood sugar levels. Over time, these elevated levels can damage various organs, increasing the risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, nerve damage, and other health problems.
Diabetes Around the World
Statistics from the World Health Organization indicate that in 2008, there were 347 million people living with diabetes worldwide. These numbers are rapidly increasing, particularly in middle- and low-income countries.
The number of cases has been steadily climbing over the past years. The primary reason is that approximately 1.5 million deaths worldwide were directly caused by diabetes in 2012. Furthermore, 80% of these deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries. In 2015, the number of people living with diabetes rose to over 415 million, according to the International Diabetes Federation.
These figures suggest that the WHO and the International Diabetes Federation project that the number of diabetes cases will reach 642 million by 2040. Diabetes is also expected to be the seventh leading cause of death globally by 2030.
The Spread of Diabetes in Arab Countries
Type 2 diabetes constitutes 90% of diabetes cases in Arab countries. The increasing prevalence of this type is primarily attributed to lifestyle changes, from healthy habits to unhealthy ones. This shift often involves consuming unhealthy foods in large quantities, as well as a reduced engagement in regular physical exercise. As a result, there is an increase in obesity rates, which is considered a major risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes.
This is clearly evident in the Arab world, where some countries are among the top ten nations globally with the highest rates of diabetes. Notably, countries such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait are affected.
Consequently, the lifestyle changes prevalent in many Arab countries contribute to obesity and diabetes rates. This is particularly evident in statistics highlighting the percentage of people with diabetes in Arab countries for 2014, according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF):
| Country | Number of Cases (* 1,000) | Number of Undiagnosed Cases and Cases of the Disease (* 1,000) | Incidence Rate in the Country |
| Algeria | 1,649.07 | 824.54 | 6.54% |
| Bahrain | 170.57 | 69.42 | 17.53% |
| Egypt | 7,593.27 | 3,796.64 | 15.42% |
| Iraq | 1,291.21 | 645.61 | 7.55% |
| Jordan | 378.26 | 189.13 | 8.89% |
| Kuwait | 424.04 | 172.59 | 17.87% |
| Lebanon | 494.29 | 247.14 | 14.36% |
| Libya | 326.82 | 163.41 | 8.54% |
| Morocco | 1,552.17 | 776.08 | 7.45% |
| Oman | 220.64 | 89.80 | 8.16% |
| Qatar | 303.72 | 123.62 | 16.28% |
| Saudi Arabia | 3,806.37 | 1,549.19 | 20.52% |
| Palestine | 140.87 | 70.43 | 6.58% |
| Syria | 875.71 | 437.85 | 7.4% |
| Tunisia | 704.35 | 352.18 | 9.33% |
| United Arab Emirates | 803.94 | 327.20 | 10.68% |
| Yemen | 716.57 | 358.28 | 5.96% |
It is clear from the data that the focus should be on countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait, and the factors that contribute to the spread of diabetes in these nations.
Diabetes and Obesity in the Arab World
The spread of diabetes in this manner within Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait presents alarming indicators of the common causes, where this spread could explode dramatically if not controlled. This would increase the number of cases in the coming years significantly.
However, the root cause lies in lifestyle changes, especially in these Arab countries. Despite the progress and modernization the Arab countries have witnessed, this wave is changing the lifestyle within them and turning it into an unhealthy lifestyle, where fast food has spread, and citizens are increasingly relying on unhealthy foods in their diets, as well as less exercise.
As the citizens of the Gulf countries engage with modern life with its downsides, they do not adhere to healthy dietary guidelines in a balanced manner, and they consume unhealthy, high-fat foods, while they also engage less in sports activities.
With the engagement of Gulf citizens with the unhealthy lifestyle through small actions, they are abandoning healthy eating habits, and thus they are getting closer to limited health awareness. All of these factors together have turned the Gulf countries into countries at the forefront of diabetes and obesity, according to World Health Organization statistics, where the rate of obesity among adults in the three Arab countries (all as a percentage) ranges between 74-86% for women and 69-77% for men.
Due to the dangerous spread of obesity among its citizens, these countries have found that taking awareness campaigns around the topic is the optimal solution to the problem. This is conditional on making it easy to shift from the unhealthy food industry to a healthy food industry that ensures a low incidence of children with obesity, which is the main cause of type 2 diabetes, as well as other different health diseases, such as high blood pressure, cholesterol, and heart diseases, especially among young people, which studies indicate is associated with the consultant in adult heart diseases, Dr. Muhammad Adel Sufi, that during the past ten years, he has faced a Saudi case that is one of the origin of forty of the cases of fatal heart disease.
All of these combined factors have made the three Arab countries (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar) top the list of countries with more cases of diabetes and obesity. Where World Health Organization statistics indicate that the rate of obesity spread among adults in the three Arab countries (all as a percentage) ranges between 74-86% for women and 69-77% for men.
Important Facts About Diabetes
Since knowledge is power, here are some important facts about diabetes that are both concerning and enlightening for you, among the most important:
- One in every two people with diabetes do not know they have the disease.
- Diabetes causes one death every 7 seconds.
- People with diabetes face an increased risk of heart disease compared to others.
- Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness among adults.
- A healthy lifestyle can reduce the risk of diabetes by approximately 70%.
