About 70 experts from the countries of the region – including Kosovo, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, India, the USA, Turkey, Italy, Morocco and more – participated in the successful three-day activity of the second regional conference to combat diabetes and obesity. The conference was held to mark the international fight against diabetes week that took place last week, and is a continuation of the establishment of the regional forum for the fight against diabetes, which was launched by the Ministry of Regional Cooperation in March of this year.
Diabetes is one of the main causes of death in Israel that significantly affects those who suffer from it; The commitment to finding solutions and improving the treatment of the disease is a cross-border challenge that we all share.
The initiative to establish the forum and the activity came against the background of a significant and alarming increase in the prevalence of diabetes and obesity in the area, and the growing need to formulate a regional response and action plan. In the last decade – and dramatically in the last two years – the problem of diabetes has become a silent epidemic but no less deadly than the corona, when in Israel, the Emirates and Bahrain, diabetes patients are registered at higher rates than in the OECD countries, with close to 10% of patients in the population in Israel, 15.6% in Bahrain , and 16.3% in the United Arab Emirates. The countries of the region also share a high prevalence in relation to the world of obese patients, especially among children. According to the data, over 35% of the children in the area were diagnosed as overweight, which is the most significant risk factor for the development of diabetes. The problem of obesity has worsened since the outbreak of the corona virus, with an average increase of 5 kg among the population and a decrease of approximately 45% in physical activity. Diabetes is one of the main causes of death in the region, and the number of patients is estimated at over 35 million people, when It is estimated that the number of diabetics will double by 2040. In addition to the risks associated with obesity, obesity in degree 2 even increases the risk of severe corona disease by 5 times.