研究指出非洲正面臨糖尿病危機
Source:VOA | AFRICA
Africa faces diabetes crisis, study finds
March 14, 2025 12:06 PM
第二型糖尿病的患病率在非洲撒哈拉以南地區正急速攀升。最新研究指出，到 2045 年，第二型糖尿病可能會影響的人口是過去預估的兩倍。該研究追蹤南非、肯亞、迦納與布吉納法索等地區的人口，並指出飲食失衡、肥胖、缺乏醫療資源與久坐不動是導致患病的主要因素。研究強調長期追蹤病患的重要性，並主張政府應根據數據制定對策。此外，個案分析結果也顯示，及早治療、改善生活習慣，可有效控制病情，呼籲該地區民眾應定期篩檢並採取健康飲食。
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA —
Researchers warn that type 2 diabetes could affect millions more people in the coming decades after a study published this month revealed the disease is rising far faster among people in sub-Saharan Africa than previously thought.
Take 51-year-old security guard Sibusiso Sithole, for example. Being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes came as a shock, he said, because he walked six miles to and from work every day and never thought his weight was a problem.
Then his wife noticed changes in his health.
Since his diagnosis 13 years ago, Sithole has been on a rigorous treatment for diabetes and high blood pressure.
“I have to take six ... medications every day,” he said.
Diabetes is a condition in which the body struggles to turn food into energy due to insufficient insulin. Without insulin, sugar stays in the blood instead of entering cells, leading to high blood-sugar levels. Long-term complications include heart disease, kidney failure, blindness and amputations.
The International Diabetes Federation estimated in 2021 that 24 million adults in sub-Saharan Africa were living with the condition. Researchers had projected that by 2045, about 6% of sub-Saharan Africans — over 50 million — would have diabetes.
The new study, published this month in the medical journal The Lancet, suggested the actual percentage could be nearly double that.
By tracking more than 10,000 participants in South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Burkina Faso over seven years, researchers found that poor eating habits, lack of health care access, obesity and physical inactivity are key drivers of diabetes in Africa.
Dr. Raylton Chikwati, a study co-author from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, said another risk factor is living in or moving to the outskirts of cities, or “peri-urban areas.”
“Access to health care, you know, in the rural areas is a bit less than in the urban areas,” Chikwati said, adding that increased use of processed foods in the peri-urban areas was a problem.
Palwende Boua, a research associate at the Clinical Research Unit of Nanoro in Burkina Faso, said long-term studies are rare in Africa but essential to understanding diseases.
“Being able to have a repeated measure and following up [with] the same people ... is providing much more information and much valuable information,” Boua said, “rather than having to see people once and trying to understand a phenomenon.”
Boua is preparing a policy brief for Burkina Faso’s government to assist in the fight against diabetes.
For Sithole, managing his diabetes has been a long journey. But with treatment and lifestyle changes, he has regained control over his health.
“What I can tell people is that they must go and check — check the way they eat — because that time I was having too much weight in my body,” he said. “I was wearing size 40 that time. Now I'm wearing size 34.”
Experts stressed that Africans should get their blood-sugar level tested and seek treatment when diabetes is diagnosed.
Language Notes
Check your comprehension!
Choose the BEST answer to each of the questions below. After you finish, highlight the parentheses to reveal the hidden answers.1. ( B ) What is the main finding of the latest study mentioned in the article?
(A) Diabetes is no longer a concern in sub-Saharan Africa.
(B) By 2045, the number of people diagnosed with diabetes could exceed 6% of sub-Saharan Africans.
(C) Obesity is not related to diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa.
(D )Most people in Africa have access to medical treatment because they live in urban areas.
2. ( D ) Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a risk factor for diabetes in southern Africa?
(A) Physical inactivity
(B) Poor eating habits
(C) Lack of health care access
(D) Pregnancy
3. ( A ) According to the article, why are long-term tracking studies about diabetes essential?
(A) The data from the studies can be used to shape health policies.
(B) Researchers can use the data to criticize government policies.
(C) The studies suggest that diabetes may only be a short-term concern in Africa.
(D) Governments can use the data to track how many people are moving to peri-urban areas.
