Diabetes is responsible for over three million deaths worldwide every year and is likely to affect about six percent of the global population by 2025.

The warning came ahead of the 19th World Diabetes Congress to be held in Cape Town, South Africa, from Dec. 3-7.

There are currently 240 million people with diabetes worldwide. By 2025, 80 percent of people with the disease will live in developing countries, said the event's official website.

The conference, organized by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), has the potential to influence health authorities to make the fight against diabetes a higher priority, it said.

The conference will take a special look at diabetes in Africa, which is often plagued by communicable diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS.

For the African continent, raising awareness of the seriousness of diabetes is fundamental due to the considerable burden that diabetes exerts on often limited health resources, said Francois Bonnici, chair of the congress Local Organizing Committee.

Rapid cultural and social changes, such as growing urbanization and the adoption of unhealthy lifestyles, are resulting in an increase in the numbers of people with and at risk of type II diabetes.

Type II diabetes now constitutes more than 85 percent to 95 percent of all diabetes cases in developing countries and the prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), often called pre-diabetes, is more than twice that of diabetes in the African Region, said Bonnici.

"We hope the Congress will influence African health authorities to prioritize the needs of people with diabetes, assist in the education and empowerment, and deliver a fair and equitable service to them," Bonnici said.

Diabetes was not as attention attracting as HIV/AIDS, " but it will be the pandemic of this century," said Luc Hendrickx, executive director of the Brussels-based IDF.

He said the three-yearly congress was one of the channels the federation used to communicate its message, which included a campaign for a United Nations resolution on diabetes calling on individual countries to adopt national diabetes programs.

The event will attract more than 10,000 medical experts and speakers, provide a platform for discussion of the latest scientific advances in the field, and offer practical information on diabetes care, advocacy and awareness, the organizers said.

The IDF currently represents 197 Diabetes Associations in 157 countries.

Editor: Donald