Everyone has to be committed to fight diabetes as it affected the body's main organs, Health Minister Joseph Cassar said this morning.

Addressing a news conference, the minister said the fight against diabeetes could not start and finish with the ministry but it was up to every individual to take the challenge.

The minister was speaking on the occasion of World Diabetes Day, being celebrated today. 11.8 per cent of the adult population in Malta has diabetes.

Activities in Malta, which has the highest rate of diabetics in Europe, were launched on Friday.

They included the Blue Monument Challenge, which saw Malta join another 45 countries lighting up monuments in blue, which is synonymous with this day.

Opposition health spokesman Marie Louise Coleiro Preca said that nearly double the average number of people died of diabetes in Malta than in the EU.

The World Health Organisation projected that between 2005 and 2030, deaths from diabetes would double.

In this context, Ms Coleiro Preca said, the Labour Party continued to emphasise the need that the government implemented all possible preventive measures and promoted exercise and a balanced diet.

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