KUWAIT: Assistant Undersecretary of the Kuwaiti Health Ministry Qais Al-Dweiri (right) attends a meeting for the GCC committee on diabetes control yesterday. — KUNA KUWAIT: Assistant Undersecretary of the Kuwaiti Health Ministry Qais Al-Dweiri (right) attends a meeting for the GCC committee on diabetes control yesterday. — KUNA

KUWAIT: The GCC committee on diabetes control convened in Kuwait yesterday, focusing on how to find effective ways to prevent and control diabetes in the GCC member states. In a keynote speech, Assistant Undersecretary of the Kuwaiti Health Ministry and Member of the Executive Bureau of the GCC Council of Health Ministers for Technical Affairs Qais Al-Dweiri said GCC health meetings give top priority to joint medical programs, primarily in the field of controlling diabetes.

Five percent of the world's population are down with diabetes, as the World Health Organization (WHO) considers diabetes as a serious and costly disease which is becoming increasingly common, especially in developing countries, he said. He quoted the WHO as calling on member states to take urgent measures in order to control the serious disease through primary control programs.

Diabetes hits over 15 percent of the Gulf people, the GCC official said, adding that chronic diseases are to blame for 68 percent of deaths in the State of Kuwait. Kuwait has established Dasman Diabetes Institute in order to prevent, control and mitigate the impact of diabetes and related conditions in Kuwait through effective programs of research, training, education, and health promotion and thereby improve quality of life in the population.

The institute was created in 2006 at the behest of His Highness the later Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah as an independent body chaired by His Highness the Amir, he pointed out. On the meeting of the GCC committee on diabetes control, he said the officials will discuss an updated GCC plan to control diabetes in the GCC members. - KUNA