Worldwide deaths from Diabetes are now running at 4.6 million a year. Global sales of diabetes medicines totaled $35 billion last year and could rise to as much as $48 billion by 2015, according to research firm IMS Health, driven by increased prevalence and treatment, especially in countries such as China, India, Mexico and Brazil.

The latest figures, unveiled at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) congress in Lisbon, underline the need for urgent action by governments at a U.N. meeting next week, according to top doctors in the field.

The high-level United Nations meeting in New York on September 19-20 -- only the second to focus on disease after one on AIDS in 2001 -- will consider what should be done to counter the growing problem of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including diabetes.

"The IDF's latest Atlas data are proof indeed that diabetes is a massive challenge the world can no longer afford to ignore. In 2011 one person is dying from diabetes every seven seconds," said IDF President Jean Claude Mbanya.

The vast majority of those with the disease have Type 2 -- the kind linked to poor diet, obesity and lack of exercise -- and the problem is spreading as people in the developing world adopt more Western lifestyles.

Diabetics have inadequate blood sugar control, which can lead to serious complications like heart disease and stroke, damage to the kidneys or nerves, and to blindness.

The new figures on the prevalence and cost of diabetes are to be published in the fifth edition of the Diabetes Atlas, the authoritative guide to the disease issued by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).

The previous edition in October 2009 had estimated the number of diabetics at 285 million for 2010, although a separate study published in the Lancet medical journal in June this year had already put the figure at a much higher 347 million.

Source: Reuters News.