INDONESIA
(REUTERS) - Mr Tonny Soerianto takes a
pill every day and gives himself a vitamin injection to help fight the disease
he's living with - type-2 diabetes.
Mr
Soerianto has been fighting it for nine years, the result of a lifetime of poor
dietary decisions.
It's
caused by obesity, he says. "It's my bad lifestyle choices and a lack of
exercise."
And he's
not alone. A report by the World Health Organisation says some ten million
Indonesians have diabetes.
Dietary
staples like rice and oily fried foods contain high levels of carbohydrates
which cause blood sugar levels to skyrocket.
Doctors
say medicating patients is not enough. They must be educated about food and
lifestyle, Mr Soerianto's doctor said.
Companies
like Mymeal are trying to help.
The
catering firm delivers precooked, healthy food to customers for about US$5
(S$6.72) per meal.
The
service is a luxury however - some 40 per cent of the population live on about
US$1 per day.
According
to the WHO's report, the world's top five countries suffering from diabetes
included Indonesia, China, India, Brazil and the US.
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