Over 55, 000 people are estimated to have lost their lives to diabetes this year, a diabetologist and consultant endocrinologist, Prof. Olufemi Fasanmade has said.

He made the disclosure Wednesday during a virtual media roundtable on diabetes organised by a multinational pharmaceutical company, Novo Nordisk.

Prof. Fasanmade, who works with the College of Medicine and Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos, said 48,375 deaths from diabetes were recorded in 2021, about 50,000 in 2022 and about 53,000 in 2023.

He said four million people out of the 24 million people living with diabetes in Africa are in Nigeria, adding that the continent is projected to have the highest increase in the burden of diabetes in the next 20 years.

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He explained that diabetes is a growing social problem worldwide and that the healthcare expenditure from diabetes is about a $1 billion.

“And this is like a 300% increase over the last 15 years,” he said.

The expert said that a study on diabetes prevalence in Nigeria revealed that the South-South geopolitical zone has the highest number of people living with diabetes.

He said, “The North-East zone came a distant second followed by South West, and the North-West has the lowest prevalence.”

While saying that Type 2 Diabetes accounts for 90% of all diabetes cases, he said risk factors for Type 2 diabetes include family history, weight, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, and age.

Prof. Fasanmade also said there were risk associated with taking unapproved or substandard medicines. He said they caused
uncontrolled blood sugar, emergency hospital admission, disease complication, adverse reactions and death.

He advised Nigerians to purchase diabetes medicines from only from Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria ( PSN) approved suppliers, ensure the packs bear a NAFDAC Registration numbers, and report cases of suspected adverse events among others.