CAIRO (Arab News) – Egyptian Minister of Health Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said that the total number of people with diabetes in Egypt who are registered with health insurance has reached 11 million.
Diabetes affects 15 percent of the world’s population, the minister said at a press conference on the diabetes awareness campaign “100 Million Healthy Lives Initiative.”
The minister said Egypt is interested in reaching these patients and providing them with early diagnosis and treatment services.
Diabetes is a serious disease, he explained, but it can be managed by raising awareness on how to avoid the complications associated with it.
He added that research is being conducted in Egypt, in cooperation with an international pharmaceutical company, on the disease’s genetic characteristics, and several centers have been established to serve patients.
The minister said that factories are providing glucose meters and manufacturing insulin locally in Egypt, with the support of international companies.
Hisham el-Hefnawy, former dean of Egypt’s National Institute of Diabetes and Endocrinology, said Egypt ranked 10th in the world in terms of the number of people with diabetes.
He said that the number of patients with diabetes is expected to reach 20 million in 2045, which will bump Egypt to ninth place.
This is in addition to an even larger number of people with pre-diabetes, a stage that carries the same complications as diabetes, he added.
Care must be taken to diagnose the disease early and provide appropriate treatment for it as well as treatment for associated health risks, such as high blood pressure or obesity, the minister added.
He said: “What was spent on diabetes treatment is much less than what will be spent on treating diabetes complications on the heart, kidneys, feet and other body parts.”