Britain’s National Health Service, or NHS, is faced with the serious threat of going bankrupt due to the rapidly growing rates of diabetes. A new study shows that the number of diabetics (both type 1 and type 2) will rise from 3.8 million to 6.25 million by 2035 – the British government already spends £9.8bn in treating the disease.
What is more, the study conducted by the York Health Economics Consortium and published in the journal Diabetic Medicine found that the disease is “an unfolding public health disaster that could overwhelm the health service,” the Guardian reported.
“This report shows that without urgent action, the already huge sums of money being spent on treating diabetes will rise to unsustainable levels that threaten to bankrupt the NHS,” explained Barbara Young, the chief executive of Diabetes UK.
The U.K. is not the only place experiencing a crisis in terms of the rapid rise of diabetes – the U.N. has called the disease an epidemic, and the number of diabetics is soaring all across the world. These numbers include both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Popular media often discusses “diabetes” and does not distinguish between the two diseases and often refers predominantly to type 2. Although this is an important trend that must be highlighted and addressed, there needs to be more emphasis on the diseases as separate.
Nonetheless, this paints another urgent picture of why we need a cure for type 1– life-long treatments are simply going to be unsustainable in the long-term. We keep pumping money in the diabetes industry and allowing it to grow and expand, but if we do not change directions and urge the non-profits to start spending a much greater number of resources toward a cure, we will be left with a very big problem on a world-wide scale.
As we often mention at the JDCA, we believe the non-profits are our best chance of achieving such a cure. We can not expect the pharmaceutical companies to come up with a cure – we must unite our voices and ensure that donations raised for a cure go towards projects pursuing that goal.
– Stoyan
By joining our alliance, you can make an important first step in uniting your voice for a type 1 diabetes cure.
