Nearly four out of every five Ghanaians living with diabetes have no idea they have it.

This alarming revelation headlined the official launch of World Diabetes Day 2026 in Ghana by the President of the National Diabetes Association, Ghana, Elizabeth Denyoh, under the theme: “Early Action on Diabetes Know Your Risk, Know Your Numbers, Act Now.”

World Diabetes Day is marked every year on November 14.

Quoting the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Diabetes Atlas, 11th Edition, Mrs. Denyoh said 589 million adults aged 20-79 worldwide are now living with diabetes. 

That number is projected to reach 853 million by 2050.

Even more worrying, about 252 million adults more living with diabetes do not know they have it.

“They are walking among us. They are in our homes, our churches, our mosques, our marketplaces, and yes, possibly in this very gathering. Undiagnosed. Untreated. Unaware until a stroke, a heart attack, kidney failure, blindness, or an amputation announces what a simple blood test could have revealed years earlier,” she said.

A further 635 million adults are already at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes. 

Global spending on diabetes has now climbed past $1 trillion a year, about 12% of all global health spending.

In Africa, an estimated 24.6 million adults were reportedly living with diabetes in 2024 with a prevalence of about 5%.

But Africa’s numbers are projected to rise by 142% to nearly 60 million by 2050—the fastest growth of any region on earth.

Most devastatingly, 72.6% or about 17.9 million people in Africa with diabetes remain the highest undiagnosed proportion of any IDF region.

Mrs. Denyoh blamed this on young populations, rapid urbanisation, changing diets, limited screening capacity, and health systems still focused more on infectious diseases than non-communicable conditions.

“Africa is not merely catching up with the global diabetes epidemic. In relative terms, it is accelerating fastest,” she said.

In Ghana, IDF estimates 317,400 adults about 2.7% of adults aged 20-79 or roughly one in every 37 adults are living with diabetes.

By 2050, that number is projected to exceed 800,000 adults unless Ghana acts decisively now.

The most alarming figure is the undiagnosed rate representing 78.7% which is nearly four out of five  equivalent to roughly 250,000 undiagnosed adults in Ghana.

Local studies paint an even gloomy picture with research in parts of Accra, Cape Coast and other communities reveals a prevalence ranging from about 6% to over 8%, substantially higher than the national IDF estimate with women often more affected than men.

A survey in Ga Mashie reported diabetes in 8.2% of adults aged 25 and above alongside very high rates of central obesity. 

Another reported overall prevalence approaches 8.8% and pre-diabetes at 14.5%.

About 1.7 million Ghanaian adults are said to already have impaired glucose tolerance, placing them at elevated risk of progressing to type 2 diabetes.

“Behind every one of these statistics is a name, a family, a breadwinner, a child. Diabetes is no longer a disease of the rich or the elderly. It is a disease of the market woman in Makola, the trotro driver in Kumasi, the teacher in Tamale, the fisherman in the Volta, and increasingly, the young person in secondary school or tertiary institution,” Mrs. Denyoh said.

Mrs. Denyoh explained early action to mean “every Ghanaian adult especially those above 35, those with family history, those overweight or obese, women who had diabetes in pregnancy, and anyone with high blood pressure should know their numbers”.

“A blood glucose test takes minutes and costs little, yet it can save your limbs, your sight, your kidneys, your life,” she emphasised.

The association together with the Ghana Health Service, Ministry of Health and development partners will offer free and subsidised screening in communities across the country during the World Diabetes Day.

“Come out. Be tested. Bring a friend. Bring your workplace. Bring your congregation.”

For those diagnosed, diabetes is manageable with early treatment, healthy eating rooted in wholesome local foods, regular physical activity, and faithful use of medication including insulin which remains essential for everyone with type 1 diabetes.

“No child in Ghana should die because insulin was unavailable or unaffordable. No adult should lose a foot because a wound was ignored or because blood sugar was never checked.”

Type 2 diabetes is, in large part, preventable or delayable by adopting measures such as reducing sugar-sweetened drinks and highly processed foods, eating more whole grains, vegetables, legumes and seasonal fruits, moving for at least 30 minutes a day, quitting smoking and limiting alcohol in-take.

“Early action today is cheaper in money and in suffering than complications tomorrow.”

Mrs. Denyoh appealed to government and policymakers to stop working alone without engaging civil society.

“We cannot get anywhere with our fight against diabetes if we continue in that tangent,” she said.

She urged investment in screening and care at primary healthcare level, availability of affordable essential medicines including insulin and oral anti-diabetic drugs, firm regulation of unhealthy food marketing especially to children and an integration of non-communicable disease services into the National Health Insurance Scheme.

She added that the WHO global target of 80% of people with diabetes to be diagnosed by 2030 must guide Ghana’s national planning.

She also called on government to provide incentives to healthcare workers to stay in the country and help transform the health system.

“Let no opportunity pass every outpatient visit. Every antenatal clinic, every workplace, health day is a chance to check a blood sugar,” she accentuated.

She urged the religious and traditional bodies and employers to incorporate wellness checks as part of their collective culture, organise health screenings and speak against the stigma and harmful myths that diabetes is caused by witchcraft or that insulin is only for the severely ill patient.

She also advocated for fruits to be included in school feeding programmes and encouraged the media, to become “partners in saving lives”.

She asserted that “Diabetes does not wait. Complications do not send polite warnings. But the good news is that early action works. Early diagnosis works. Timely treatment works. Prevention works”.

Source: Classfm