Tax on sugary drinks may not help in beating diabetes in the UAE

Dubai - A million people live with diabetes in the UAE and approximately another 500,000 are not diagnosed.

Regulating sugar content in soft drinks, providing a calorie count and keeping a check on fast food outlets can control the incidence of diabetes in the UAE, according to a senior official who has presented the ideas to the Ministry of Health and Prevention for action.
Dr Abdul Razzaq Al Madani, president of the Emirates Diabetes Society (EDS), said that taxation, as suggested by the World Health Organisation earlier this month, might not work in the UAE.
"But educating the public will work. We have already started a programme to tackle obesity in school children by educating them on the importance of healthy eating and exercising," he said.
With only a few years to go before the UAE government meets its 2021 deadline to reduce the incidence of diabetes from the current 19.3 per cent to the targeted 16.28 per cent, health officials are now pushing the envelope.
However, preliminary results from a yet to conclude survey being supported by the EDS show that numbers of people living with the condition in the UAE has not fallen.
"The numbers haven't gone up either," argued Al Madani. "In  2000, only a few people knew about diabetes but now there is an increased awareness," he said, adding that the government was trying to reach the targets.
"Diabetes is a problem in our region. It's an epidemic and the UAE has one of the highest number of people living with diabetes," said Al Madani, ahead of World Diabetes Day that is marked on November 14 each year.
He was speaking at a roundtable conference organised by the Landmark Group to announce the annual Beat Diabetes Walk that will take place at Zabeel Park in Dubai on November 18.
"If a person walks 10,000 steps, which is equal to 5kilometres, in a day, diabetes can be prevented," he said. Currently, a million people live with diabetes in the UAE and approximately another 500,000 are not diagnosed.
A person with diabetes spends Dh3,672 monthly on managing the condition. "Costs can double if there is a complication and keeps increasing," said Dr Al Madani.
- asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE