The weight of the increasing diabetes and obesity epidemic in SA threatens to crush the country’s overloaded health system‚ experts warn. SA and Egypt are the worst offenders in the rapidly growing diabetes epidemic on the continent‚ according to the first major study in Africa on diabetes and obesity. Lead author Prof Andre Kengne‚ director of the noncommunicable diseases research unit based at Tygerberg Hospital‚ said their analysis found that diabetes and weight gain had risen between 1980 and 2014. He said: "Africa is the region in the world where diabetes is growing fastest. It is growing faster than our coping capacity. We want to find a way to get it under control and that is why we are piloting the SA diabetes prevention project." Nicholas van Rooy is among more than 400 people from seven Cape Town townships who have joined the project. He is glad that he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2011 while on medical aid. "Taking part in this research is like getting a second o...

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