Mexico, Nov 5 (PL) Mexico occupies the sixth place internationally in terms of the incidence of diabetes, 6.4 million people live afflicted by the disease in this nation, health authorities reported today.
That figure represents 9.2 percent of the population of the Aztec country, experts said in the framework of a program of activities on the occasion of World Diabetes Day, to be held on November 14.
According to Dr. Guadalupe Fabián, medical director of the Mexican Diabetes Federation (FMD), the states with the most affected by that condition are the Federal District, Nuevo León, Veracruz, Tamaulipas, Durango and San Luis Potosí.
In a press conference offered on Tuesday, the specialist said that these data correspond to the people who were already diagnosed, but if the cases are still taken into account and those that still do not go to the doctor, the figure could double.
Given this situation, the doctor highlighted the need to raise awareness about what this disease means and the complications that can derive from it.
In statements to Prensa Latina, Fabián explained that the causes for which Mexico has such a high incidence of diabetes are related to genetic factors of the country's population, as well as the change in the lifestyles adopted.
Therefore, he pointed out as risk factors sedentary lifestyle, bad eating habits, stress, and even insecurity, because children do not usually go to physical exercises and are more likely to develop sufferings such as obesity.
Last week the Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto, ordered the implementation of a strategy for the prevention and control of obesity and diabetes nationwide.
According to the president, these diseases have become a threat to the health of Mexicans, so he announced that he will take the most effective measures, according to scientific evidence, to face them.
In that sense, as part of the Miscellaneous Fiscal approved by the Congress of the Union for 2014, the increase in taxes to the so -called junk food was established, while preparing legislation to prohibit advertising of such food in theChildren's television schedule.
However, the FMD medical director considered that although these measures can help the problem, the most important thing is education, create consciousness in people about how to take care of their health and have healthy lifestyle habits.