Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Surjit Kumar Jayani on Thursday directed the State Health officials to ensure a sustained awareness campaign on diabetes as it has virtually become epidemic in Northern India.
Jayani, in a message on the eve of World Diabetes Day, said that the World Diabetes Day 2014 campaign marks the focus on healthy living and diabetes. “This year’s activities and materials would specifically address the topic of healthy eating and its importance both in prevention of Type-II diabetes and effective management of diabetes to avoid complications,” he said.
Expressing concern over increasing diabetes patients, he said that there are 382 million people living with diabetes worldwide. “By 2035, 592 million people or one person in 10 will have the disease. A further 316 million people are currently at high risk of developing Type-II diabetes,” he said.
He added that diabetes camps would be organised at the gram panchayat level where sugar tests would be conducted on hundreds of patients and people would be apprised about adopting a healthy lifestyle.