Facts and Figures

• In 2011, there were an estimated 181 million women with diabetes. By 2030, this number is expected to rise to 275 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.
• 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

• IDF Policy Briefs, 2011
  • Diabetes in Pregnancy: Protecting Maternal Health [2]
  • Early Origins of Diabetes [3]
• PAHO and NCD Alliance: NCDs and Gender [4], 2011
• PMNCH and IDF: Knowledge Summary Women's and Children's health and Non-Communicable Diseases, 2012 [5]
• NCD Alliance: NCDs: A Priority for Women's Health and Development [6], 2011

Articles

• GDM a serious maternal and invisible health issue [7], 2011
• Putting Women and diabetes on the global health agenda [8], 2011
• Halting the rise of NCDs: An urgent priority for women's health [9], 2011
• Mobilising Women and Diabetes for Global Development [10], 2010
• Diabetes Voice: Special Issue on Women [11], 2009