Every eight seconds someone in the world dies due to a complication of diabetes, and yet the test to monitor the blood glucose level takes even fewer seconds.

“The blood glucose test takes just five seconds, and should be included in the yearly doctor’s check-up. It is important that we monitor our sugar levels and engage in a healthy lifestyle to prevent diabetes all year round,” Health Minister Joe Cassar said yesterday as the world marked Diabetes Day.

He added that if people changed their lifestyle at the first hints of high blood glucose levels, they could escape the condition.

About 10 per cent of Malta’s population have diabetes, but there are others who have yet to be diagnosed. According to the International Diabetes Federation half of global diabetes cases have not yet been diagnosed.

Data released yesterday show that 371 million people have diabetes and 187 million are still to be diagnosed.

In 2011, there were some 366 million people with diabetes, and figures for this year show that the upward trend will continue. By the end of the year, 4.8 million people will have died from diabetes related complications.

Sir Michael Hirst, incoming International Diabetes Federation president, described diabetes as a global pandemic that kills more people worldwide than HIV, malaria and tuberculosis put together. Every three seconds someone in the world is diagnosed with diabetes and every eight seconds someone dies due to a complication, he said.

Labour spokeswoman Marie Louise Coleiro Preca said that while Malta had one of the highest prevalence of diabetes, it still did not have a national screening programme. Diabetes led to other chronic diseases that required treatment funded by people’s taxes, and it was not enough that the Government provided free medicine.

It needed to take on a more preventive role such as a national screening programme and also address the waiting list at Mater Dei Hospital.

The Health Ministry said the Government had developed a national strategy known as Noncommunicable Disease Strategy that included conditions like obesity, which increased the risk of diabetes. There was also the Diabetes Shared Care Programme through which people with diabetes received care in the community, which led to a decline in waiting time at Mater Dei Hospital.

The treatment was holistic and included screening of eyes and blood circulation in the legs. Patients were being given an annual appointment with a specialist to control the condition.

People can still get their blood glucose tested at any health centre or pharmacy .