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New diabetes prevention website launched to stop growing epidemic in Asia

2 min read

The rapidly emerging diabetes epidemic in Asia has the potential to overwhelm health care systems, undermine economic growth, and inflict unprecedented levels of disability on the world’s most populous continent. A new website—the Asian Diabetes Prevention Initiative—aims to put a stop to this deadly epidemic by offering Asian countries authoritative, science-based information to stop the spread of type 2 diabetes.

The website—www.asiandiabetesprevention.org—a joint initiative between the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (SSHSPH) at the National University of Singapore (NUS), gives the public, health professionals, and public health practitioners quick and easy access to information about the causes of type 2 diabetes, its dire consequences, and what can and must be done to decrease the prevalence of this disease in Asia.

“Asia has become the epicenter of the global diabetes epidemic,” says Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at HSPH and co-editorial director of the new website. “By providing the latest advances in research on epidemiology and state-of-the-art practices for diabetes prevention through lifestyle and environmental changes, this website will raise the public’s awareness about this ‘silent’ epidemic and spur urgent actions to address it.”