79 deaths a day: South Africa’s diabetes crisis needs a new strategy
Originally published by The Conversation – Articles (AFRICA) — Read the original article →
Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) recently released its report on deaths that occurred in 2024. The headline findings contain a sobering, recurring truth: diabetes was once again the country’s leading underlying natural cause of death.
In 2024 alone, 28,767 people died from complications caused by diabetes, accounting for 6.1% of all deaths nationwide. That is an average of nearly 79 deaths every day.
Diabetes also claimed the top spot in 2022 and 2023.
These numbers cannot be accepted as South Africa’s new normal. Behind every data point is a human life, a grieving family and, all too often, years of encounters with a health system that missed opportunities to diagnose, treat and support people in time.
