A nonprofit organisation based in the Netherlands has estimated that the number of people living with diabetes in Africa will rise astronomically over the course of the next 23 years.
The organisation, Access to Medicine Foundation (ATMF), also said in Nigeria, the number of diabetics will rise to 8 million during the same time, that is 2045.
ATMF is an organisation that works to stimulate and guide pharmaceutical companies to do more for people living in low and middle-income countries.
And in their recent report, titled “REPORT ON DIABETES CARE: What are pharma companies doing to expand access to insulin – and how can efforts be scaled up?” which was released in October 2022, ATMF said the current estimate of 3.5 million living with the disease in Nigeria doesn’t tell the complete picture due to poor diagnosis in many African countries.
“The burden of treatment of diabetes remains significantly greater in Nigeria and other low to medium-income countries (LMICs).
“According to the report, the number of people with diabetes worldwide is expected to reach 570 million by 2030, and 700 million by 2045, rising most rapidly LMICs as the burden of non-communicable diseases grows,’’ said Jayasree Iyer, who is the CEO of ATMF.
The report further added that affordability continues to be the major barrier to accessing insulin, and the reasons for high costs are various, with costs associated with the prevalence of the disease not only social but also economical.
