Diabetes

Approximately 425 million adults are living with diabetes worldwide, contributing to 1.6 million deaths in 2016.¹ It is a disease attributed to lower life expectancy, higher risk of stroke, kidney failure, heart attack, vision loss and nerve damage.² A modified diet, medication plan and blood sugar monitoring can treat and manage diabetes.³ Type 1 diabetes is otherwise known as insulin-dependent or childhood-onset diabetes, and is not preventable. Type 1 diabetes is a deficiency of insulin, and treatment includes daily doses of insulin to manage the deficiency. Type 2 diabetes is characterized by excess body weight and lack of physical activity, and is non-insulin-dependent. Type 2 diabetes is characterized by the body’s inefficient use of insulin.⁴ China has the highest number of diabetics, over 114 million, with India following at 72.9 million, then the United States with over 30 million.⁵ Though, in terms of prevalence, 33 percent of the population of the Marshall Islands has diabetes, while OECD nations have an average rate of 13 percent. Though the United States is the nation with the third highest diabetic population, those 30 million citizens account for just 9 percent of the population as whole.⁶