Public Health Scenario of Diabetes in India — Addressing the Challenges

During the last two decades, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have overtaken communicable diseases (CDs) as the major cause of morbidity and mortality in India. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study India, showed that in the 1990s more than 50% of all deaths (and in some states upto 70%) were due to communicable diseases. This situation has completely changed, and now, in all the 31 states of India, non- communicable diseases form the major cause of death, ranging from 55–70% of all deaths in India⁽¹⁾. Among NCDs, the most rapid rise is seen in diabetes which is now reaching epidemic proportions in India⁽²⁾. In the 1970s the prevalence of diabetes in urban areas of India was about 2% and in rural areas between 0.5 to 1%. Over the last 40 years, this has dramatically increased almost 10 fold^(3,4). In metropolitan cities like Chennai and Delhi, the prevalence of diabetes is around 25% in those above 20 years of age. At age 55 and above almost 40% of the population has diabetes and another 35% have pre-diabetes which means that 75% of the population aged 55 years and above, in the metropolitan cities, have some form of dysglycemia⁽⁵⁾.