Enormous
Burden of Diabetes in Latin America and the Caribbean
posted 04/30/03
Every year, more than 330,000 people die in the region of the Americas due to
causes related to diabetes. Diabetes affects approximately 28 million people in
the region.
One of the most serious problems in Latin America and the Caribbean, both in
terms of public health and economic burden, is diabetes, according to a new
study by experts from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the
Alberto Hurtado University of Chile.
Estimates indicate that permanent disability resulting from the disease causes expenditures above $50 billion per year. Related temporary disabilities result in another $700 million in costs. The costs associated with insulin and other drugs for people with diabetes in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to data analyzed for the year 2000, totaled $4.7 billion dollars, hospitalizations totaled $1 billion, consultations $2.5 billion and care for complications another $2.4 billion.
Dr. Alberto Barcelo, regional adviser on chronic diseases at PAHO and principal author of the study, said that all these numbers "show that diabetes imposes a very high economic burden on the individuals and society of each country and on the region of Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole. Although we may have underestimated the direct costs of diabetes, our results show a gap between health expenditures in the region and the cost of diabetes care. This gap may promote adverse outcomes, such as a high frequency of complications, disabilities and premature mortality notably discouraging patients from seeking health care."
The diabetes burden was
also measured in terms of time lost either by temporary or permanent disability
or death. "The number of people with diabetes who were temporarily disabled was
estimated at over 6 million," Barcelo said, and assuming that 40% of patients
with diabetes were economically active, "diabetes caused the loss of 136,700
discounted years of productivity costing over $763 million from loss of days at
work."
In Latin America and in the Caribbean, there is the added problem that many
people who have diabetes do not have access to health services and thus to
specialized treatments. The study was recently published in the bulletin of the
World Health Organization.
Source: Diabetes In
Control Dot Com.
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