World Health Day: What happens when you have diabetes? - Watch!

Zee Media Bureau/Salome Phelamei

New Delhi: An estimated 347 million people in the world had diabetes in 2008, and the prevalence is growing, as per the World Health organization (WHO).

The disease was direct cause of some 1.5 million deaths in 2012, with more than 80% of those occurring in low-and middle-income countries.

Also called diabetes mellitus, diabetes is a group of chronic diseases where the amount of blood glucose is too high. Most common types are:

Type 1 diabetes – the body produces little or no insulin, and therefore patients require insulin injections to survive.

Type 2 diabetes - the body does not produce enough insulin for proper function. Type 2 diabetes accounts for about 90% of all cases of diabetes worldwide. People with this condition are typically overweight and sedentary, two factors that raise a person’s insulin needs.

Diabetes can cause long-term damage to our body, including the kidneys, eyes, heart, blood vessels and nerves.

The following video explains what diabetes is and the complications that can occur from the disease.

Video credit: Diabetes UK/YouTube

On World Health Day, which is being celebrated on 7 April, 2016, each year, WHO is focussing on diabetes. The main goals are to scale up prevention, treat and care for people with diabetes. Diabetes is treatable ca control of blood glucose can help prevent the complications from becoming worse.