Diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa and in Africans

Abstract

The prevalence of diabetes is drastically increasing in every part of the African continent where repeated surveys have been conducted. According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), the number of affected people in Africa will double within 20 years, from 12 million in 2010 to 24 million in 2030. Similarly, an increase is being observed in African diasporas of Western countries. In addition, there are some clinical presentations of diabetes that are predominantly observed in populations of African descent and that are difficult to classify. The most characteristic is ketosis-prone atypical diabetes, previously identified under ‘idiopathic type 1 diabetes’, which may represent up to 15% of all newly diagnosed diabetes in African-origin populations. This chapter, therefore, focuses on epidemiological specificities of diabetes in Africa, on the clinical specificities, and on atypical clinical presentations.