On Friday (22 February 2013) Rehman will be raising awareness of diabetes in Gillingham High Street from 10am onwards where the charity Silver Star will be on hand to offer free diabetes tests.
They will be bringing their Mobile Diabetes Unit, which tests people’s weight, height, waist and glucose levels within 3-5 minutes. Experts will be on hand to offer advice and answer questions.
Diabetes is a serious health threat affecting 3.7 million people in the UK, with 850,000 of them unaware they even have it. The number of people with this condition is expected to reach 4.4 million by 2020 because of rising levels of obesity and an aging population.
In Medway, 13,960 people (6.8% of the population) are thought to have diabetes and it is expected to increase to 8.6% by 2030. And levels of obesity in Medway are worse than the national average, where 30% of people are obese compared to 24% nationally.
People living in deprived areas are also 56% more likely to have diabetes than those in the least deprived areas.
The NHS now spends a tenth of its budget on treating the condition, with 80% of these costs spent on complications which could have been avoided.