Diabetes becoming 'major problem'

Diabetes is fast becoming a major health problem in the country with close to 40 million currently suffering from the disease, a health expert has said.

And the figure continues to rise, with about 1.2 million new cases each year, Professor Yang Wenying, chairwoman of the diabetes branch of the Chinese Medical Association, told China Daily at the 7th Novo Nordisk Diabetes Update seminar held over the weekend.

The number of diabetes patients in China is second only to that of India, which has 40.9 million.