Diabetes biggest killer in India, numbers rising alarmingly

India will have more than 100 million people in next 17 years who are likely to have diabetes, currently the largest cause of deaths in the country.
According to a data released here today during a National Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) meet, the country witnessed a 12 per cent increase in the number of diabetes cases to 61 million in 2012 as against 50.8 million in the previous year.
In 2012, diabetes caused 9.83 lakh death in the country, the largest contributor to mortality, according to official data .
"We need multi-sectoral collaborative efforts to address the present and future challenges posed by NCD's in the country and every sector needs to share personal responsibility," Sayeda Hameed, Member, Planning Commission, said at the summit.

A Confederation of Indian industry 'National White Paper on Insights from Multi Stakeholder Consultation- Management and Care of Diabetes in India' was also released at the summit which focused on the theme of "Strengthening Policies for Diabetes Care".
The white paper encapsulates some of the best practices and suggestions from various experts and includes input received from five-state roundtable forums with multi- stakeholder groups organised at Rajasthan, West Bengal, Kerala, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.

Keshav Desiraju, Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, stressed the need to have an intermediate level of public healthcare workers beyond the ASHA workers.
The International Diabetes Federation estimates that 9.2 per cent of adults in India have diabetes, making its prevalence second only to China.

Senior officials of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,leading diabetes experts, scientists, business leaders and representatives from international and national development agencies attended the inaugural programme.