Cairo: Egypt now has 11 million diabetics registered with health insurance, according to Egyptian Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar.

The minister told a press conference on the diabetes awareness campaign "100 Million Healthy Lives Initiative" that 15% of the world's population has diabetes.

The minister announced that Egypt is eager to connect with these patients and provide them with services for early diagnosis and treatment.

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He said that though diabetes is a serious condition, it can be managed by spreading knowledge about how to prevent its complications.

He also said that research into the genetics of the disease was being done in Egypt in collaboration with a multinational pharmaceutical company, and several centers had been set up to assist patients.

According to the minister, local factories in Egypt are producing insulin and glucose meters with the assistance of foreign businesses.

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According to Hisham El-Hefnawi, former dean of Egypt's National Institute of Diabetes and Endocrinology, the prevalence of diabetes in the country currently ranks tenth in the world.

According to them, 20 million people worldwide will have diabetes by 2045, making Egypt the ninth place.

This is in addition to a large proportion of people who have pre-diabetes, a condition that has complications similar to diabetes.

The minister continued, "Care should be taken to diagnose the disease early, provide appropriate treatment for it and treat associated health risks such as high blood pressure or obesity."

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According to him, the cost of treating diabetic complications in the heart, kidneys, legs and other parts of the body would be much higher than the cost of treating the disease itself.