8 May 2009

Source: BBC Northern Ireland Website

About 10 people in Northern Ireland are diagnosed daily as having diabetes, it has emerged.

Health professionals have described the figure as "shocking" and say the Department of Health must act.

Unlike England, Scotland and Wales, Northern Ireland does not have a specific diabetes strategy.

However, the department said more than £40m had been set aside to tackle chronic conditions, including diabetes, over three years.

Institute of Public Health chief executive Jane Wilde said the rise in diabetes was probably due to increasing levels of obesity.

For further information: the IPH report, Making diabetes count - what does the future hold? predicted that between 2005 to 2015 in Northern Ireland there will be a 26% increase in the number of people with Type 2 diabetes. So if current trends continue an estimated 84,226 in Northern Ireland will have adult diabetes by 2015, a total of 278,170 people across the island.