The Register Counts 141,891 People With Diabetes in Macedonia, and Worldwide 43 Percent of Patients Don't Know They're Ill: How Many Haven't Been Counted?

The National Diabetes Register for 2025, published by the Institute of Public Health, counts 141,891 people with diabetes mellitus in Macedonia. Of these, 78,663 are women and 63,228 men. As many as 95.09 percent have type 2 diabetes - the form most often linked to lifestyle, and one that can develop for a long time without any symptoms.

That is the number of those who have been diagnosed. How many are outside it? The International Diabetes Federation estimates that almost 589 million adults aged 20 to 79 worldwide live with diabetes, or 11.1 percent of that age group. Around 252 million of them, or 43 percent, do not know they are ill. By 2050 the number could reach 852.5 million.

For 14 November, World Diabetes Day, this year's motto is "Early action on diabetes", and a press conference with Health Minister Sasho Klekovski has been announced at the Clinic of Endocrinology in Skopje. The focus is prevention, early detection and greater engagement of the health system at all levels. Fine words - worth exactly as much as will be seen in clinics and pharmacies.

Patients have already said what they need. The Gevgelija Association of Diabetics is asking the Ministry of Health for continuous glucose monitoring sensors for all type 1 patients, noting that they are "not a luxury but modern technology" that protects them from dangerous hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia. They are also asking for good-quality, accurate glucometers for all type 1 and type 2 patients, as well as the most modern type 2 therapy that protects the heart, kidneys and blood vessels.

If prevention is a priority, then requests like these are a test of how serious it is. Diabetes is among the leading causes of blindness, end-stage kidney disease, non-traumatic amputations and cardiovascular disease. Those are precisely the complications that sensors and timely therapy are meant to prevent.

In Bitola, the Public Health Centre set up on Magnolija Square with free blood-sugar testing. There, the register counts 5,624 people with diabetes, 2,969 women and 2,655 men, and 98.4 percent have type 2. A campaign on a square is a small step, but exactly that kind of step can catch one of those who don't know they're ill. The question is whether it will remain a one-day, occasional event or become regular practice.