18.9% population in Jammu region diabetic, reveals study

Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh, also a diabetologist, on Sunday released the Jammu-related data of the ‘first of its kind ‘world’s largest survey’ ‘ICMR-India Diabetes ‘INDIAB’ Study to assess the prevalence of diabetes in India, including in Jammu and Kashmir.

According to the survey, the overall burden of the disease in Jammu region covering its 10 districts is 18.9 per cent, with 26.5 per cent in urban areas and 14.5 per cent in rural areas which is higher than the national average.

A statement said that according to the ICMR-INDIAB study, 10.8 per cent of the population in Jammu region is affected by prediabetes, emphasising the urgent need for action against the growing burden of NCDs in the region.

The Jammu phase surveyed 1,520 participants across urban and rural areas, providing critical insights into the region’s health landscape.

As per the survey, the overall prevalence of hypertension, generalised obesity and abdominal obesity in Jammu is 27.1 per cent, 41.7 per cent and 62.7 per cent respectively. The study was conducted by the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation with the collaboration of ICMR and the Department of Health Research.

Jitendra Singh said the fight against diabetes is a national responsibility, no longer confined only to the medical fraternity and calls for collective effort by all because it threatens to drain away the vital youth energies meant to be devoted to the task of making ‘viksit Bharat’.

Expressing concern over the rising cases of diabetes in the region, Singh called upon everyone, including medical institutions, NGOs and the media, to create awareness in society about the disease in order to prevent and control it before it assumes an alarming proportion.

He said the study offers an opportunity for prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). He called for adopting a multi-sectoral approach involving the government, non-governmental agencies, the community at large as well as the individual to slow down or stop the rising tide of diabetes and other NCDs.

Describing the ICMR- India Diabetes (INDIAB) nationwide study as landmark, he said its findings will help estimate the health burden due to diabetes, prediabetes and metabolic NCD. He added that the study would also help in shifting focus to the prevention and control of diabetes and other NCDs in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Union minister said that all-out efforts must be made to prevent the youth from falling prey to this preventable disease.

Singh informed that the government is setting up nearly 1,50,000 health and wellness centres all over the country with a focus on prevention and control of NCDs like diabetes, hypertension and some forms of cancer.