Diabetes Is Rising in Africa. Could It Lead to New Breakthroughs?
1 min read
Summary
In February 2022, around 700 policymakers, academics and philanthropists met in Kigali, Rwanda, to discuss the rising rates of noncommunicable disease across Africa, and in particular, type 2 diabetes.
The number of people in sub-Saharan Africa with type 2 diabetes rose from four million in 1980 to 23.6 million in 2021, and it’s expected to more than double to 54.9 million by 2045 due to rapidly changing lifestyles and diets.
The spread of the disease, and the fact that many patients are “drug naïve”, meaning their disease has not yet been treated by medication, could provide an opportunity for researchers to better understand the disease.
The continent’s genetic diversity, caused by humans living in Africa the longest, also provides a “golden opportunity” for further research.
African men are at higher risk of type 2 diabetes, possibly due to undiscovered genetic variants or the structure of the pancreas.
Existing diagnostic tests for the disease, such as fasting plasma glucose tests, are ineffective in some populations, e.g. they don’t take into account that many Africans have G6PD enzyme deficiencies.
