Resources

Facts and Figures

  • In 2013, there were an estimated 184 million women with diabetes. By 2030, this number is expected to rise to 288 million.
  • Diabetes is the ninth leading cause of death in women globally, causing 2.1 million deaths per year.
  • Sixty percent of the world’s poor are women, twice as many women as men suffer from malnutrition, and two thirds of illiterate adults are women.
  • The greatest increase in the female diabetes population over the next 20 years will be in the Middle East and North Africa Region (96%), followed by the Africa Region (90.4%) and South East Asia (74.4%).
  • Two out of every five women with diabetes are of reproductive age, accounting for over 60 million women worldwide.
  • High blood glucose, or hyperglycaemia, is one ofthe most common health problems of pregnancy.
  • Hyperglycaemia in pregnancy can be a result of either previously existing diabetes in a pregnant woman, or the development of insulin resistance later in the pregnancy in a condition known as gestational diabetes (GDM).
  • Any unmanaged hyperglycaemia in pregnancy can result in birth complications that can affect both mother and child including: increased risk of preeclampsia, obstructed labour due to fetal macrosomia and hypoglycaemia at birth for the infant.
  • The prevalence of hyperglycaemia in pregnancy increases rapidly with age and is highest in women over the age of 45.
  • As the prevalence of both obesity and diabetes in women of childbearing age continue to rise in all regions, so will the prevalence of hyperglycaemia in pregnancy.
  • Gestational diabetes (GDM) is any glucose intolerance with onset or first recognition during pregnancy, and develops in one in 25 pregnancies worldwide.
  • In India alone, an estimated 4 million women have GDM.
  • Approximately half of women with a history of GDM go on to develop type 2 diabetes within five to ten years after delivery.

Publications

Policy Briefs

Articles