By NNN-KUNA,
Kuwait : Around 200 people below the age of 15 are diagnosed with diabetes everyday worldwide, a specialist said here Saturday.
Dr. Muneera Al-Arrouj, deputy director general of Dasman Center for Diabetes Research and diseases, said three percent of children and youths were diabetics, while five percent of children below six years old were diabetics.
Al-Arrouj made the remarks on the occasion of the International diabetes Day, which this year has the slogan of “Children and Diabetes.” Dasman Center, Ministry of Health and Kuwait Diabetes Society are organising a festival to mark the Day on November 15, she told KUNA.
The festival will include a walk marathon and a health exhibition, she said.
During this day, said Al-Arrouj, people can examine sugar, fat and blood pressure.
A team from Dasman center will be visiting schools to educate them about diabetes, she added.
The UN considers diabetes a very costly disease. More than 246 million people are diabetics with the number expected to exceed 380 over the next 20 years.
Fifteen percent of Kuwaiti adults are diabetics, while 22 in every 100 children below 14 years old are diabetics.