ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Pakistan would observe World Health Day on April 7(Thursday), with focus on its over seven million diabetic patients.
The theme of World Health Day 2016 would be “Diabetes: Scale up prevention, strengthen care, and enhance surveillance”.
Diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate as there are approximately 7.1 million diabetic patients in Pakistan, according to Diabetes Association of Pakistan (DAP).
It is estimated that Pakistan would have a diabetic population of around 11.4 million people in 2030.
According to International Diabetes Federation (IDF), 1/8th of the world population would have diabetes or be at risk of developing diabetes by 2035.
Diabetes is an increasingly serious medical threat faced by nations that must be a high priority of any developing country’s health policy as diabetes is not just a health issue but a development issue as it hinders progress.
World Health Day is celebrated by the people all across the globe under leadership of World Health Organization (WHO) to draw people’s attention towards the importance of global health.
It is an annual event being celebrated for years to raise the common public awareness towards health issues and concerns.
World Health Day targets all the health issues on global basis for which several programmes are organized yearly by the WHO and other related health organizations at schools, colleges, medical facilities and other public places.