New York Healthcare Summit Highlights Diabetes Proliferation In Asian Countries

With diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular ailments reaching epidemic proportions in Asian countries such as India, Malaysia,

NEW YORK, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Oct, 2018 ) :With diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular ailments reaching epidemic proportions in Asian countries such as India, Malaysia, China, etc, the United States (US) chapter of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) a chapter of which also exists in Malaysia is keen to increase its cooperation with its Asian chapters in creating and preventing diseases that are creating not only health problems but also posing a financial drain.

To highlight the critical health issues facing the Asian community, in general, and the Indian community, In particular, the Indian consulate-general in New York and the GOPIO's Health Council organised a marathon day-long health summit in New York.

"While the health summit's goal has been to improve the health of people of Indian origin, the effort can also apply to other Asians who have commonalities of health issues such as diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases, etc.

"This summit is an initiative of our health council whose goal is to improve the health of people by raising awareness of current and emerging health issues, and highlighting preventive practices and sharing information with others to better manage chronic diseases," explained Thomas Abraham, the chairman and driving force behind GOPIO.

Healthcare is one of the major items of expenditure and the costs of providing this basic necessity are exploding in many Asian countries. Indeed, diabetes in Malaysia, for example, has increased at an alarming rate in recent years; even more alarming is that over half the diabetes-afflicted Malaysians are not even aware of their condition.

According to a number of scientific institutions, Malaysia is on the way to having the highest number of kidney failures in the ASEAN region by 2030. Kidney failure, amputations, heart attacks, blindness, etc. can be caused by untreated and deteriorating diabetic condition.

Malaysians, ranking eighth in the world's sugar-consuming charts, consume about 26 teaspoons of sugar daily. That is almost five times more than the ideal intake limit set by the World Health Organisation (WHO). One factor contributing to this high sugar intake is that Malaysians consume too many drinks with high sugar content.

Malaysian researchers cite the 2015 National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) to support their prediction about the high diabetes rate in the country. The NHMS showed that 47.7 per cent of Malaysians were either overweight or obese. But a large percentage of the Malaysian population � about 15.7 per cent - have pre-diabetic condition, meaning that this condition can easily develop into full-fledged diabetic condition, if this condition is not controlled.

Dr Meena Murthy, the head of the Division of Endocrinology, Nutrition and Metabolism at St Peter's University Hospital, New Brunswick, New Jersey and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Rutgers' Robert Wood Johnson Medical school, highlighted the "steep rise" in diabetic numbers.

"Diabetes around the world has gone up three-fold. Although this should ring alarm bells, we observe complacency in some countries," she said in an interview with Bernama at the Indian consulate-general in New York.

Until recently, India had more diabetics than any other country, according to the International Diabetes Foundation, although it has, meanwhile, been surpassed in the top spot by China.

Diabetes currently affects more than 62 million Indians, which is more than 7.1 per cent of the adult population. The average age on onset is 42.5 years but Murthy says that the risk starts at age 30 for men. Nearly one million Indians die due to diabetes every year.

According to the Indian Heart Association, India is projected to be home to 109 million diabetics by 2035. A study by the American Diabetes Association reports that India will see the greatest increase in people diagnosed with diabetes by 2030.

The high incidence is attributed to a combination of genetic susceptibility plus adoption of a high-calorie, low-activity lifestyle by India's growing middle class. These characteristics are also found among Malaysians.

Murthy also spoke of the high long-term costs of grappling with diabetes. "Prevention is the key and it can be successfully achieved by creating awareness and educating the people about the harmful effects of rising sugar levels in the blood stream.

"Diet and exercise are vital in this education process. Indeed, I would say that teaching and preaching are not enough � you have to coach people," she stressed, adding that Indians and South Asians were genetically prone to contracting diabetes.

"I would advise diabetics � and even non-diabetics � to control their intake of salt, sugar, fat and processed foods," she said, urging Indians, Malaysians and other Asians to share their knowledge and expertise with each other.

Dr Tushar Patel, the chair of the GOPIO Health Council and coordinator for international cooperation said his organisation was trying to work out a concept of cooperation with other Asian countries.

"We hope to reach out to Asia in 2020, our target year. GOPIO is present in 44 countries, including Malaysia. We are keen to intensify our relations with Malaysia and other countries but presently, we are taking 'baby steps' and will extend our reach after our focus on the US. We are also working closely with the Lions Club International," he said.