Death by sugar: can Southeast Asia win the war on diabetes?

Southeast Asians now make up 20 per cent of the 450 million diabetes sufferers globally; many live in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand

Experts say a sugar tax won’t solve the problem – there needs to be a coordinated approach of early detection and promoting a healthy diet and exercise

Reading Time:7 minutes

A diabetes patient administers an insulin injection. Photo: Handout

Published: 9:00am, 3 Jan 2019Updated: 11:45am, 3 Jan 2019

Mayang Gagat Kamayang is 23 and lives in Sukabumi, West Java, where she runs a home business making and selling Indonesian kue (sweet snacks). Six years ago at the age of 17, she was diagnosed with diabetes. Her father and grandfather both died from complications relating to the disease.

“Once I realised I had inherited diabetes, I immediately started eating less carbs and walking more,” she said.

She surmised it was getting more common for young Indonesians to develop the disease, due to a combination of genetic predisposition, diet and lifestyle.

Mayang’s story barely scratches the surface of the public health crisis Southeast Asia is grappling with – how to prevent and treat diabetes, which can lead to complications such as heart disease, stroke, and kidney and nerve damage.

About 96 million of its more than 670 million population – or every one in 14 people – have diabetes, and almost all of them have type 2 diabetes, which is in many cases preventable.

This means Southeast Asians now make up about 20 per cent of the 450 million people living with diabetes globally, with many of them living in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Experts have blamed this on a prevalence of processed and unhealthy food, a lack of early intervention for patients and misinformation – diabetes was for a long time thought to be a disease that afflicted people in wealthier countries.

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