Qatar: 40% kids suffer from diabetes

DOHA: As many as 40 percent of children in Qatar are suffering from diabetes with the number of new sufferers increasing each year, a new study has found.

Dr Abdullah Al Hamaq, executive director of Qatar Diabetes Association (QDA), said globally 500,000 children under the age of 15 had type 1 diabetes, while in Qatar 40 percent of children were suffering from diabetes 1 and 2, a local newspaper reported.

"Lifestyle is the main reason for this alarming rise of childhood diabetes," Sharoud A Matthis, programme manager of QDA told the newspaper. "Unhealthy food habits, less exercise and also sometimes presence of a genetic factor all propel diabetes in the young.”

An international three-day conference to address the problem of diabetes and obesity in children has been organised by the QDA in collaboration with Detroit Medical Centre, Children’s Hospital of Michigan (USA) and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) from Oct. 10 to 12 at the Doha Sheraton Hotel.