Globally the cost of diabetes care has doubled
Diabetes, often thought as a disease for rich people affects the mass regardless of their socio-economic status. Being a developing country, Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries who fall down as a victim of this silent epidemic. This life long disease cannot be cured and is very expensive to manage. Furthermore in the last few decades the cost has also risen. Apart from other complications, Diabetes imposes large economic burden on the national healthcare system. According to the Diabetes Atlas – 4th Edition – globally the healthcare expenditures on diabetes accounts for 11.6 percent of the total healthcare expenditure in 2010. About 95% of the countries would spend 5% or more, and about 80% of the countries would spend between 5% and 13% of their total healthcare dollars on diabetes. In 2010 the global health expenditure to prevent and treat diabetes and its complications costs at least 376 billion USD. By 2030, this number will exceed some 490 billion USD. Moreover, more money is expected to be spent on diabetes care for women than for men. In Bangladesh in 2010 the mean health expenditure per person with diabetes was 21 USD which is around 4% of the per capita income. This is just the tip of the iceberg as sufficient data is scarce to get the actual scenario. The largest economic burden caused by diabetes is the monetary value associated with disability and loss of life as a result of the disease itself and its related complications, including heart, kidney, eye and foot disease. Fortunately, the economic burden of diabetes can be reduced by implementing many inexpensive, easy-to-use interventions, and most of the interventions are cost-effective or cost-saving, even in the poorest countries. Tragically, these interventions are not widely used in poor and middle income countries like Bangladesh. More resources should be invested to deliver these cost-effective interventions, in particular to those in the developing countries where the great majority of persons with diabetes live.
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