COMING UP. Alert on diabetes

Every year, the World Health Organization prioritises a global public health concern as its theme on World Health Day, April 7, the birthday of the Organization. This year, it is diabetes. The WHO will launch its first global report on diabetes, which will describe the burden and consequences of diabetes and advocate stronger health systems to ensure improved surveillance, enhanced prevention and more effective management of diabetes. Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease characterized by elevated levels of blood glucose and may lead to serious damage to the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, and nerves. For India, with an increasing population of people with diabetes (69 million), this should be a call to action.