DHAKA: Asia-Pacific countries face serious challenges from ‘lifestyle’ diseases and ageing populations even as they overcome more traditional illnesses.

The World Health Organisation’s regional director said on Monday, reports The Straits Times.

WHO’s Western Pacific director Shin Young-soo said such ailments, often arising from a change in diets and less exercise, were sharply rising in Asian nations.

He said recent studies showed that as many as 12 percent of Chinese adults had diabetes, while as many as 50 percent had a ‘pre-diabetes’ condition, meaning they were on the borderline of developing the illness.

This was a huge jump from the estimated 3-4 percent diabetics in China’s adult population in the 1990s.

BDST: 2127 HRS, OCT 21, 2013
RoR/JCK