Title:Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Saudi Arabia: Major Challenges and Possible Solutions
Volume: 13
Issue: 1
Author(s): Asirvatham Alwin Robert, Mohamed Abdulaziz Al Dawish, Rim Braham, Maha Ali Musallam, Ayman Abdullah Al Hayek and Nasser Hazza Al Kahtany
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Type 2 diabetes, epidemiology, diabetes complication, self-management, healthcare, saudi arabia.
Abstract: The World Health Organization has ranked Saudi Arabia as having the second highest rate
of diabetes in the Middle East (7th highest in the world) with an estimated population of 7 million living
with diabetes and more than 3 million with pre-diabetes. This presents a pressing public health
problem. Several challenges in diabetes management need to be tackled in Saudi Arabia, including
the growing prevalence (chiefly among children and young adults), micro-and macrovascular complications,
lifestyle changes, late diagnosis, poor awareness and high treatment costs. Over the last
two decades, the Saudi population saw an increase in the expenses in healthcare and treatment of
diabetes by more than 500%. In 2014, the health care budget was 180 billion (Saudi Riyal) of which
17 billion was spent on all Saudis, with an approximate 25 billion on the entire Saudi diabetic population.
This implies that the direct expense of diabetes is costing Saudi Arabia around 13.9% of the
total health expenditure. Therefore, unless a comprehensive epidemic control program/
multidisciplinary approach is stringently enforced, the diabetes mellitus burden on Saudi Arabia
will probably increase to very serious levels. It is crucial to implement improved health and
health-related quality of life of to those with diabetes, thus minimizing the social and personal expenses
for diabetes care in Saudi Arabia. In this study we discuss the significant and major threats
posed by diabetes mellitus to the Saudi population and recommend essential possible solutions to delay/
prevent this formidable issue.
