Malta ranks among the 10 European countries with the highest rate of diabetes yet the country still has no action plan to combat the disease, according to an audit report compiled by four international diabetes organisations.
More than 30,000 people, or 9.5 per cent of Malta’s population, suffer from diabetes. That number is expected to increase to 36,000, or 11.1 per cent, by 2030.
But diabetes prevention is not recognised as a health priority in Malta, the report asserts.
The island is among 22 of 47 European countries that do not have a national diabetes strategy even though the country spent 11.2 per cent of the health budget on combating the disease – ranking in the ninth place when it came to expenditure.
The average prevalence of diabetes in Europe stands at 8.1 per cent of the population. Malta ranked in the eighth highest spot following Portugal (the highest at 12.7 per cent), the Russian Federation, Poland, Slovenia, Cyprus, Latvia and Lithuania.
The report is entitled Policy Puzzle: Is Europe Making Progress? It was compiled by the International Diabetes Federation-European Region, the Foundation of European Nurses in Diabetes, Primary Care Diabetes Europe and the Alliance for European Diabetes Research.
Diabetes, which affects about 246 million people worldwide, is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, a hormone that regulates blood sugar, or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces.
Across Europe more than 52.8 million people have diabetes. By 2030 this figure will rise to 64 million – which is equal to 9.5 per cent of the adult population.
According to the report, the developments in diabetes services are still too slow across Europe. The audit speaks about the urgent need to address diabetes through targeted policy action and by placing diabetes higher on health agendas.
11.1%
The percentage of Maltese expected to have diabetes by 2030
The audit report covers 47 European countries and aims to further document the diabetes epidemic and the disparate national policies and practices that currently exist across the European region.
The document points out that, in 2010, the Maltese health authorities launched the National Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases.
Non-communicable diseases, such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes, are responsible for 82 per cent of deaths in Malta, the report points out.
The report also states that the Maltese Diabetes Association has been asking the government to draw up a strategy. The association also pointed to a lack of diabetes specialists and has called on the government to invest in them.