Almost 50% of individuals with diabetes are unaware of their status because they have not been diagnosed.

South East Asia has nearly one-fifths (20%) of the global diabetes cases. However, 49% of them have not been formally diagnosed, and are not aware of the need to take remedial/ preventative action.

This is reflected in the very low health spending on Diabetes in the region: less than 1% of the global spending on diabetes.

Information, education, and preventative action are crucial.

The International Diabetes Federation has created an application to help determine one’s risk for developing diabetes:

http://www.idf.org/worlddiabetesday/bluecircletest

Users have to click on the small circles surrounding the central question mark, and choose the appropriate response describing their status. Once all responses have been submitted, the application generates a report indicating your individual risk for developing diabetes.

The good thing about this application is that it provides action and health education messages below the risk query.