Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla, has addressed urgent calls for diabetes to be afforded the same level of priority as the long-standing and comprehensive efforts made against HIV/Aids healthcare treatment.

This comes as researchers, academics, and healthcare professionals gathered for the 2025 Diabetes Summit in Ekurhuleni, urging the government to declare diabetes a national healthcare crisis.

Phaahla was speaking on the sidelines of the second day of the Diabetes Alliance’s three-day gathering aimed at finding innovative solutions to one of the country’s leading non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Chairperson of the Diabetes Alliance and convenor of the summit, Dr Patrick Ngassa Piotie, said that in light of the sobering statistics, diabetes deserves to be treated as a national health emergency.

Statistics in the country have recorded diabetes as a significant public health crisis, said to be affecting more than 4.6 million adults and becoming the leading cause of death in the country.

“For too long, diabetes has been dismissed as a lifestyle disease, but now it has become a national crisis as it has destroyed families and strained our national resources and hospital capacity, and it has ceased to be a personal problem, but a national crisis. We resolve that the government must declare diabetes as a national healthcare crisis,” Dr Piotie said.

Responding to numerous calls for diabetes to be prioritised and tackled in the same manner the government did with the HIV/Aids crisis, Gauteng MEC for Health, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, said she welcomes such calls as the disease, dubbed the ‘silent killer’, needs widespread mobilisation of resources.

Nkomo-Ralehoko revealed that risky diabetes cases account for 35% of the province’s 65% of total provincial cases.

“Calls for diabetes to be declared a healthcare emergency are welcome and correct, as we need more partnerships to manage the scourge. For us, diabetes is not just a health issue. It is an economic issue, a family issue, and a productivity issue.

“With 70% of people living with diabetes being of working age, the impact on our workforce, household income, and our healthcare system is profound. We must address this across the life course,” she said.

Nkomo-Ralehoko said the province will this week commemorate this year’s World Diabetes Day in Soweto, which will be held under the theme, “Diabetes and Well-being in the Workplace”.  

World Health Organization (WHO) representative in South Africa, Shenaaz El-Halabi, indicated that for the declaration to succeed, WHO member states should observe the guidelines adopted by the recent gathering in Spain.

“The WHO has a global action plan to manage NCDs. These guide member states in establishing interventions and monitoring progress, including reducing premature mortalities in achieving universal coverage. It is also important to mention the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, launched in July 2025,” she said.

This comes as heads of state and government and high representatives, who gathered in Sevilla, Spain, from June 30 to July 3, 2025, adopted this framework as a guideline to realise sustainable development, including effectively implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

El-Halabi said this framework, developed with input from global experts and organisations and informed by real-world experiences, including the Covid-19 pandemic, offers a consistent and proven approach to emergency management.

Her sentiments were echoed by the deputy minister, who stated: “I know that there was a call to declare diabetes as a public health emergency; however, there is a process outlined by our country’s WHO representative on how to declare a public health emergency. There are provisions for that to happen.”

siyabonga.sithole@inl.co.za

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