To mark the start of NHS England’s Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Week, which ran 1-7 April, Diabetes UK released new analysis that showed that one person is diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes every three minutes in England and Wales.
Just over 200,000 people were diagnosed with T2D in England and Wales in 2017, the most recent year for which statistics are available, meaning 23 people every hour, or one person every three minutes. (Statistics are not available for Northern Ireland.)
NHS England’s Diabetes Prevention Programme ran the Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Week to raise awareness about their Healthier You programme, a free service to help people reduce their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes UK has teamed up with NHS England and is encouraging people to find out their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by using the Know Your Risk tool. The tool is a free, online test that lets anyone find out their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.
Chris Askew, Chief Executive at Diabetes UK, said of the shocking statistic, “Three in five cases of Type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed by eating well, being active and achieving a healthy weight, meaning there is hope for the future.
Action must also be taken to tackle the obesity epidemic, which has contributed to the rise of Type 2 diabetes. While we encourage everyone to eat more healthily and move more, it’s equally important that the government tackle our obesogenic environment, and make the healthy choice the easy choice.”
Dr Partha Kar, associated clinical director for diabetes for NHS England added, “These figures confirm the importance of the action set out in the NHS Long Term Plan, including expanding the NHS Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Programme and introducing a pilot of very low calorie diets that have been shown to put Type 2 diabetes into remission in a significant proportion of those that already have it.”
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