Diabetes is rapidly increasing in India with around seven crore cases registered among adults in 2015, whereas the prevalence of the disease increased by 80% among women between 1980 and 2014, the government said.
“As per the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), the estimated cases of diabetes in India in the age group of 20-70 years were 6.68 crore and 6.91 crore in 2014 and 2015 respectively,“ health minister J P Nadda said in Rajya Sabha.
India is among the top three countries in the world with high diabetic population, he added, citing a report of medical journal Lancet.
However, China, which used to have second highest prevalence of diabetes, has overtaken India, Nadda said citing a Indian Council of Medical Research study. As per International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Diabetes Atlas (7th Edition), China has the largest number of cases of diabetes (109.6 million) followed by India (69.1 million) and the US (29.3 million) in 2015.
Nadda said the government is implementing National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS) for interventions up to district level. NPCDCS has focused on awareness generation for behaviour and lifestyle changes, screening and early diagnosis of persons with high level of risk factors and their treatment and referral to higher facilities for appropriate management for noncommunicable diseases, including diabetes.