Prof Tran Huu Dang, President of the Vietnam Association of Diabetes and Endocrinology (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNS/VNA)
– Diabetes, as a , will be addressed across multiple
fronts, from prevention and disease management to and engagement,
health experts have said.
Speaking at the Merck
Cardio-metabolic APAC Regional Education Forum that opened in Ho Chi Minh
City on June 15, Prof Tran Huu Dang, President of the Vietnam Association of
Diabetes and Endocrinology, said Vietnam was one of the Asian countries with a
high prevalence of diabetes (5.5 percent of the population in the ages of 20-79)
and pre-diabetes (13.7 percent).
“However, Vietnamese have a
lack of awareness of the disease and prevention. The cost of diabetes treatment
in Vietnam was estimated at 320 million USD in 2007 and is projected to
increase to 1.1 billion USD by 2025,” he said.
Health experts said the
diabetes epidemic has major health and socio-economic repercussions, especially
for developing countries.
According to Prof Juliana
CN Chan, Director of the Hong Kong Institute of Diabetes and Obesity, over
half of all people with diabetes reside in the Asia Pacific region.
The heterogeneity of risk
factors and complications in the Asia epidemic results in part from
rapid transitions in nutrition, lifestyles and environment.
Early intervention in
people with pre-diabetes using lifestyle modification prevents diabetes which
can lead to long-term reduction in microvascular and macrovascular
complications.
There is an urgent need to
implement targeted strategies to prevent type 2 diabetes to reduce this growing
burden on the healthcare system and improve the general well-being of
individuals and societies.
According to WHO, the
number of people living with diabetes and its prevalence is growing in all
regions of the world.
The global prevalence of
diabetes among adults rose from 4.7 percent in 1980 to 8.5 percent in 2014.
The two-day forum
was organised for the first time in Vietnam by Merck APAC, a leading
German biopharmaceutical company, in collaboration with Sang Trading and
Pharmaceutical Company.
Experts from around the
world discussed the latest in scientific research and state of the art
digital health tools related to diabetes as well as cardio-vascular disease and
thyroid disorders.
Topics included diabetes
prevention and patient care – medicine and technology, thyroid disease
management and the role of mobile services in disease awareness and
cardiovascular disease, protection and the role of technology in saving lives.-VNS/VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
