An Arab country where 20.5% of its population has diabetes

Shiraz Al-Baji, Head of the “Supply and Scientist” Department at the Tunisian National Institute “Zouhair Al-Kalal” for Nutrition and Technology, revealed that the latest new figure related to the high incidence of diabetes in Tunisia reached 20.5%.

Al-Baji added that this percentage was around 15.5% in 2016, and stressed that the numbers revealed by the previous study related to the health of Tunisians have likely increased for several diseases.

The head of the department explained in a statement to Al-Sabah newspaper in its Sunday issue that “non-communicable diseases are a major public health problem, starting with diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, heart disease and cancer, which cause 86% of all deaths.”

She pointed out that non-communicable diseases cause a large percentage of deaths in Tunisia, which according to World Health Organization figures reached 86%, including 44% due to heart and arterial diseases, 21% due to other non-communicable diseases, 12% due to cancerous diseases, and 8% due to hereditary diseases and nutritional problems. Note that the death rate due to diabetes reached 5%.