HCM City (VNS/VNA)- Diabetes, as a major public health issue, will be addressed across multiplefronts, from prevention and disease management to patient care and engagement,health experts have said.

Speaking at the MerckCardio-metabolic APAC Regional Education Forum that opened in Ho Chi MinhCity on June 15, Prof Tran Huu Dang, President of the Vietnam Association ofDiabetes and Endocrinology, said Vietnam was one of the Asian countries with ahigh prevalence of diabetes (5.5 percent of the population in the ages of 20-79)and pre-diabetes (13.7 percent).

“However, Vietnamese have alack of awareness of the disease and prevention. The cost of diabetes treatmentin Vietnam was estimated at 320 million USD in 2007 and is projected toincrease to 1.1 billion USD by 2025,” he said.

Health experts said thediabetes epidemic has major health and socio-economic repercussions, especiallyfor developing countries.

According to Prof JulianaCN Chan, Director of the Hong Kong Institute of Diabetes and Obesity, overhalf of all people with diabetes reside in the Asia Pacific region.

The heterogeneity of riskfactors and complications in the Asia diabetes epidemic results in part fromrapid transitions in nutrition, lifestyles and environment.

Early intervention inpeople with pre-diabetes using lifestyle modification prevents diabetes whichcan lead to long-term reduction in microvascular and macrovascularcomplications.

There is an urgent need toimplement targeted strategies to prevent type 2 diabetes to reduce this growingburden on the healthcare system and improve the general well-being ofindividuals and societies.

According to WHO, thenumber of people living with diabetes and its prevalence is growing in allregions of the world.

The global prevalence ofdiabetes among adults rose from 4.7 percent in 1980 to 8.5 percent in 2014.

The two-day forumwas organised for the first time in Vietnam by Merck APAC, a leadingGerman biopharmaceutical company, in collaboration with Sang Trading andPharmaceutical Company.

Experts from around theworld discussed the latest in scientific research and state of the artdigital health tools related to diabetes as well as cardio-vascular disease andthyroid disorders.

Topics included diabetesprevention and patient care – medicine and technology, thyroid diseasemanagement and the role of mobile services in disease awareness andcardiovascular disease, protection and the role of technology in saving lives.-VNS/VNA