China now has more than 50 million diabetics and their number is rising by an average of 1.5 million to two million a year, thus making it a country with the largest number of diabetes patients in the world.

Among these diabetes sufferers, more than 90 percent contract type 2 diabetes, a lifelong disease that might cause disability and even lead to a loss of life, according to a forum on prevention and treatment of diabetes held Sunday in Chongqing municipality, southwest China.

Experts warned the type 2 diabetes might affect about 100 million people in China by 2025 provided no prompt, effective measures are taken to prevent and control the disease.

Diabetes has become the country's third killer disease menacingthe health of human beings following cardiovascular disease and cancer, experts acknowledged, adding that effective prevention and treatment of the disease is of vital importance in easing the consumption of medical resources and alleviating burdens on a country to attain sustainable economic development.

Currently, China spends some 10 billion yuan (about 1.2 billionUS dollars) on treating the people with type 2 diabetes annually.

The forum on prevention and treatment of diabetes has been sponsored by the Chinese Medical Association to mark the imminent World Diabetes Day, which falls on November 14.

Around 1,000 urologists, scholars and senior medical workers from the relevant fields attended the forum.

Source: Xinhua