People in HCM City are tested for diabetes at a meeting held on November 14 to mark World Diabetes Day. VNS Photo Thu Hằng

 HCM CITY — More than 60 per cent of adults with diabetes remain undiagnosed in Việt Nam and only 30 per cent of people living with diabetes follow plans to monitor and manage diabetes at health facilities, according to the HCM City Centre for Disease Control.

Around 3.5 million people in Việt Nam had diabetes in 2015 and the number is expected to rise to 6.1 million by 2040, Dr Nguyễn Thị Ánh Vân of the centre told a meeting last Saturday.

Sedentary lifestyles, unhealthy diets and an ageing population were to blame for the rapid increase, she said.

Diabetes increases the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.

It is a major cause for the increase in the number of cases of heart failure, stroke, kidney failure cases, lower extremity amputations, and blindness.

According to Dr Hồ Đắc Phương of Nguyễn Tri Phương Hospital in HCM City diabetes is one of five common chronic diseases in the country.

Diabetes develops silently with symptoms often less marked. As a result, the disease may be diagnosed several years late.

“A healthy diet, regular physical activity, and maintaining normal body weight are ways to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes," he said.

“Type 2 diabetes is largely preventable by keeping weight under control, eating a healthy diet and avoiding a sedentary lifestyle.

“People with type 2 diabetes should need a proper diet, physical activity, medication, and regular screening.”

At the meeting, hundreds of people were tested for diabetes and received consultancy on diet and prevention of diabetes.

It was held by the centre and the HCM City Public Health Association to mark World Diabetes Day, November 14. —VNS