Nearly a fifth of UAE people are diabetic

Nearly a fifth of the UAE people are suffering from diabetes, making the country among the 10 nations with the highest rate of the disease, a Health Ministry official was reported on Sunday as saying. At the end of 2011, almost 19.2 per cent of the UAE’s population had diabetes and the ratio could rise to 19.8 per cent in 2030 unless measures are taken to tackle the problem, said Dr Mahmoud Fikri, the Ministry’s assistant undersecretary for health policies. “The UAE is now ranked among the 10 nations having the highest diabetes ratio,” he said at a diabetes seminar in Sharjah. “Unless measures are taken to fight this problem, the rate of the disease is will likely increase to 19.8 per cent in 2030 from 19.2 per cent at the end of 2011,” he said, according to the semi official daily Alittihad. He said the Ministry is drawing up a new strategy to fight this disease, which he described as a serious health problem to the society. In a recent study, the Ministry of Health said cardiac and diabetes diseases are the main causes of deaths in the UAE, with a population of more than eight million people. The report, quoting doctors in the country, blamed bad eating habits, stress and lack of exercise.