A national awareness campaign is being launched to create awareness about diabetes in the wake of statistics showing that 14.1 percent of the Kingdom's population is diabetic. The Preventive Medicine Agency at the Ministry of Health in Riyadh is launching the two-day awareness campaign. Muhammad Sa'eedi, Director General of Non-epidemic Diseases, said the campaign will highlight complications and preventive measures. Messages will be delivered by endocrinologists under the motto “Yes to health and life and no to diabetes”. He said the latest statistics show that the number of patients suffering from diabetes in the Kingdom is 14.1 percent. Of this total, 28 percent are under 30 and one percent is children under 14 years. Diabetes, both types I and II has increased in an alarming way among children and adults and high rates worldwide. Especially in Gulf countries, diabetes has been sweeping through these countries with rates between 14 and 25 percent. In Saudi Arabia, diabetes cases have increased by 24 percent among people over 30 years of age. In the United States of America, diabetes cases have doubled in the last 10 years. Sa'eedi attributed the spread of the disease in Saudi society to a number of reasons, including poor nutrition, obesity and the lack of physical exercise.
