Barcelo et al. (2003) estimated total annual cost
associated with diabetes in Latin America and the
Caribbean to be US$65.216 billion. With a prevalence of
200,000 type 1 diabetics in India, Shobhana et al.
(2002) estimated that the cost of treatment could be as
high as US$50 million. According to American Diabetes
Association, the combined direct and indirect costs of
diabetes in 1997 were estimated at US$98 billion in the
United States of America. The estimated total direct
costs of diabetes in Spain is over US$650 million where
there were over 1.4 million known diabetics in 1994
(Hart et al., 1997). In England and Wales, the estimated
cost of type 1 diabetes is US$1.92 million (Gray and
Fenn, 1995). Unfortunately, there is a dearth of similar
evidence for the WHO African Region (Kirigia et al.,
2009).