‘Diabetes evolving into a public health crisis in SA’

The South African Diabetes Alliance says that the disease is an escalating public health crisis in the country and more likely to kill more people than any other disease.

These revelations are contained in the 2023 Diabetes Summit Report.

The Diabetes Alliance Chairperson Dr Patrick Ngassa Piotie says the health system’s inability to adapt from focusing on communicable diseases has created challenges in managing diabetes.

“Diabetes is now a crisis in South Africa- according to Statistics SA, diabetes is the number one- killer among all diseases- meaning that South Africans are more likely to die of diabetes than any other disease, including HIV, Tuberculosis, and so on,” says Ngassa Piotie.

He added that some of the challenges associated with diabetes are that it’s “a complex condition, in terms of diagnosis, in terms of management, monitoring and so on.

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