Colonial War Memorial Hospital General Surgeon, Dr Ilaitia Delasau.

Around 15 percent of Fiji’s adult population is suffering from diabetes.

Colonial War Memorial Hospital General Surgeon, Dr Ilaitia Delasau, says this is a very alarming statistic and one that needs urgent attention.

The International Diabetes Federation says around 87,000 have diabetes, but estimates another 46,000 have the disease undiagnosed.

Dr Delasau says one of the major contributors to diabetes is lifestyle including the food we eat on a daily basis.

“Obesity and the lack of exercise is the major contributing factor to developing diabetes so the body can’t control the sugar level and not just from sweets, it’s from too much input, a lot of food in and not enough exercise. So we are having excess stores in our body where the insulin which is the hormone that controls diabetes can’t cope with the amount of sugar in our body so hence we develop symptoms of diabetes.”

Dr Delasau says the late presentation of patients with diabetes to hospital is also a major hindrance.