Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus(T2DM) in Pakistan: Prevalence, Trends and Management Strategies

Abstract

The rising incidence of diabetes has become one of the major health problems worldwide. It is especially overburdening low-income countries like Pakistan which ranks 4th in diabetes prevalence. The purpose of this review article is to analyze the current approach to diabetes management in Pakistan and to highlight its deficiencies. It also discusses the future strategies that can help Pakistan to reduce the rising disease burden. Information was collected from the publications which were searched on 'Google scholar' and 'PubMed'. The latest data provided by IDF has shown diabetes prevalence in Pakistan to be 17.1% in 2019; 148% higher than previous reporting. The major obstacles in the effective management of diabetes are lack of resources, societal barriers and patient related issues. In order to reduce the load of diabetes, combined efforts of government, health care professionals and patients are required. In future, diabetes education of the patients as well as HealthCare providers, use of telemedicine for the management of chronic diseases and concept of precision medicine can be applied to decrease diabetes burden in Pakistan.