Future health focus on diabetes among young: Jitendra Singh

Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh today said India will focus on diabetes among young as well as the elderly people suffering from the disease.
"The future health focus in India will not only be on diabetes among young but also on elderly for the simple reason that while in the years to come, around 70 per cent of country's population will be below the age of 35 years, on the other hand, the population of the elderly age group is also on the rise partly because of increase in lifespan," Singh said.
He said that the life span has increased partly because of improved health status in later decades of life. Singh was speaking at a function organized to mark the 'World Diabetes Day' today.

He said that while on the one hand, the nation will have to ensure that India's vast youth potential remains unaffected by adverse effects of diabetes and other metabolic diseases, on the other hand, the care of the ageing and elders "will be both our moral as well as social responsibility".
Singh said that Diabetes at young age poses a greater challenge for the affected person as well as his family because that is the most formative and productive phase of his life.
"But, an optimum level of diabetes education, self-discipline, healthy lifestyle and freedom from stress can in fact enable the diabetic individual to live a better and even more productive life than his non-diabetic peers", he said.