Upsetting diabetes figures in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region shown by Novo Nordisk survey, Focus Reports
Release Date: 2010-11-23
The Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk has joined the market research firm Ipsos Emirates Health in an attempt to assess the awareness of the population in several North African and Middle East countries when it comes to diabetes.
Novo Nordisk is the leading international company in diabetes care and it has more than 87years of innovation in the segment. It markets its products in 179 countries and has production facilities in seven countries, with the biggest insulin production outside Europe in Montes Claros, Brazil. In addition to diabetes, the company is also in leadership position in the areas of haemophilia care, growth hormone therapy and hormone replacement therapy.
This initiative of the company was created for the occasion of the World Diabetes Day which was declared to be on the 14th of November all around the world. The survey was created and conducted in the following countries of the MENA region: Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It was designed for the general population and it measured the awareness for diabetes’ causes, problems and risks together with the possibility of the respondents to develop diabetes.
According to the WorldPharmaNews, the Executive Vice-President of Novo Nordisk Lise Kingo stated the following: “The results of the MENA diabetes awareness survey are striking. The need to further educate the general public about the risk factors, complications and the severity of the condition is very clear. We hope that the initiative will inspire authorities to tackle this issue. We believe that early detection of diabetes, prevention and education can make a real difference.”
The MENA survey has been responded by approximately 3,000 people in the above mentioned countries and it shows that 41% of them could be at risk of developing diabetes. Moreover, only half of the interviewees responded that diabetes is a severe or very severe disease and most of them still considered several diabetes myths as being true. For instance, one in three Algerians still think that diabetes is contagious and almost 40% of the total respondents believe that diabetes’ main cause is stress.
These numbers are increasingly concerning given the fact that the MENA region has a 26.6 million inhabitants affected by diabetes today, and this creates a huge pressure on the healthcare systems and the governments budget. And even worst, the diabetes population is expected to double by 2030.
| Type: | NORMAL |
| Company: | Focus Reports |
| Country: | Switzerland |