Close
UCL in the News: Diabetes threat
4 September 2007
Diabetes patients in Cote d'Ivoire are appealing for help, as a lack of insulin in the country's public pharmacies has put the medicine out of reach for most, adding to the burden diabetics already face in fighting their disease in one of the poorest countries in the world.
Health experts say chronic illnesses like diabetes, despite their heavy human and socioeconomic toll, tend to lose out in competing for scarce resources with communicable diseases like tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria. …
Health experts say developing countries neglect chronic illnesses like diabetes, heart disease and cancer at their peril. "With all the focus on HIV/AIDS, malaria and other communicable diseases, countries are not getting ready for the next challenge - chronic illnesses like diabetes," said Dr David Beran, project coordinator at the International Insulin Foundation at the UCL Centre for International Health & Development. "And these are expensive, life-long diseases that have a huge financial impact on individuals but also on health systems." …
allafrica.com
Follow us
