There is no data on the cases of diabetes in South Sudan, the World Health Organization has said.

A Medical Officer at the WHO office in South Sudan, Dr Richard Laku, told Eye Radio that there have been cases of the disease but the prevalence has not been established.

“Unfortunately up to now, we have been seeing cases of diabetes but the prevalence of the diabetes and hypertensions and other non-commons of the disease in the country have not yet been established,” Dr Laku stated during the World Health Day today, which is focusing on diabetes.

The World Health Day is marked annually to celebrating the founding of the World Health Organization in 1948. This year, the WHO is issuing a call for action on diabetes.

Dr Laku says diabetes can be caused by smoking, drinking too much alcohol and taking too much sugar.

In a statement in Geneva, the WHO says the number of people living with diabetes worldwide has almost quadrupled since 1980 to 422 million adults.