World Health Day
Today, as part of World Health Day the WHO is launching a campaign to create awareness and is calling for action against diabetes.
According to a recent report released by WHO, it’s first Global Report on Diabetes, an increase in diabetes has been observed around the world, markedly in middle-income countries. This report outlines the global burden of diabetes: “Globally, an estimated 422 million adults were living with diabetes in 2014, compared to 108 million in 1980. The global prevalence of diabetes has nearly doubled since 1980, rising from 4.7% to 8.5% in the adult population.”
The larger rise in developing countries is explained by rapid urbanization: “What’s happening in the low and the middle-income countries quite quickly is very rapid urbanization,” Etienne Krug, director of the WHO Department for Management of Non-communicable Diseases, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention said. “People who used to work in the fields doing quite hard physical work, had access to vegetables and fruit very cheaply and did most of their transportation by walking or bicycle, are now living in cities where the type of work they do, the type of transportation modes they use and the type of food they eat is very different.”
An explainer video on diabetes by WHO:
Of the people living with diabetes, most have Type 2 diabetes. Effective approaches are available to prevent type 2 diabetes, including lifestyle and behaviour choices.
Vivametrica and Diabetes
With Vivametrica’s predictive analytics, we have identified how physical activity measured via wearable devices relates to risk for Type 2 Diabetes. We have developed personalized goal setting tools that are benchmarked against the population. With our advanced technology, individuals and groups can identify specific behaviour changes that will have a direct impact on the reduction of Type 2 Diabetes. We see this as an opportunity to introduce technology that will change the course of this disease through user engagement, preventative behaviours and self-management of disease.
