Diabetes in the tropics: prevalent, increasing and a major public health problem

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is no longer confined to the developed nations of the temperate zone, but has attained epidemic proportions in the developing nations of the tropics as well. The latter group of nations’ unique challenges include low rates of disease detection and limited access to preventive and therapeutic measures. Lessons learned from the experiences of the developed world need to be appropriately adapted and applied to these populations in order to prevent the spread of the diabetes epidemic in a cost-effective manner in developing countries of the world where 80% of all people with diabetes currently live.