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TODAY_200 diabetes associations in 160 countries are marking the very first United Nations observed World Diabetes Day.
Diabetes affects 246 million people worldwide. UN_officials say it presents as great a threat to global health as HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria.
At last year's World Diabetes Congress, it was announced that the diabetes epidemic is projected to affect seven per cent of the world's population by 2025 as countries increasingly embrace the bad habits associated with affluence.
Studies reveal that diabetes is spreading quickest in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East.
World Health Organisation statistics reveal that more than 15 per cent of Bahrain's population (37,000 of its 650,000 people) were affected by diabetes in 2000.
It is estimated that the figure will grow to 99,000 by 2030.
Specialists at Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC)_have also warned that up to 20 per cent of Bahrain's population could contract Type 2 diabetes as a result of obesity.
Dr Mansoor Rajab, paediatric diabetologist and endocrinologist at SMC_said that paediatric diabetes in Bahrain is rising at an alarming rate, with 20 out of every 100,000 children now suffering from the disease.
The teenage sufferers Mujthaba Mahdi Al Mansoor, 16, and Nouf Mohammed Shaheen, 14,_are ambassadors of the Paediatric Endocrine and Diabetes Health Care team at SMC.
Both have to inject themselves up to three times a day with insulin and constantly monitor their blood sugar levels.
But the youngsters are bravely battling the disease and say that children and teenagers living with diabetes can lead a normal, active and healthy life.
