糖尿病 = Diabetes in Chinese

Why should we care? I will give you a few statistics to consider:

The current population of China is 1,306,313,812. The population of the United States as of today is 297,846,405. Western Europe is around 457,030,418.

There are 14.8 diagnosed persons in the United States, and NIDDK estimates that about 6.2 are undiagnosed. There are roughly 33 million people with diabetes in Europe (combined EU and non EU states.)

The diabetes population in China is set at around 50 million and is set to double by the year 2035. See International Diabetes Federation. Even these numbers are disputed by a group of clinical researchers in Beijing who completed a study that concluded:

Three out of every four diabetes patients are undiagnosed, indicative of a lack of population-based screening programmmes and a relatively rapid and recent increase in incidence of diabetes. These results indicate that diabetes has become a major public health problem in China and underscore the need for national strategies aimed at prevention and treatment of diabetes.

The IDF also tells us in a more recent report that it is estimated that 330 million people worldwide will have diabetes by 2025, and that more than 60 percent of those affected will be in Asia Pacific. See press release.

Why should we care in the western world? Because China is and will continue to challenge the Western world as an economic super-power. Because, the number of people in Asia (Including India) diagnosed with diabetes will almost be that of the total poulation of the United States by 2040. If the Business world(some parents are raising their children to speak Chinese!) is already standing up and taken notice of China and is beginning to build bridges -- why aren't we in the field of Healthcare and Medicine doing the same thing. It occurs to me that we have this incredible technology that allows us to break down some of the barriers, and yet we are still somewhat xenophobic in our taste for learning about other cultures. We all may have a lot to learn.

I hope this discussion continues.