By comparison:
Deaths in Syria since the start of the uprising:
"By some estimates, more than 14,000 Syrians have died in the crisis."
here:
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/01/world/meast/syria-unrest/
Human cost of Diabetes in the USA:
From here:
http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/diabetes-statistics/
People under 20 who got diabetes in 2010: 215,000
In 2007, diabetes was listed as the underlying cause on 71,382 death certificates and was listed as a contributing factor on an additional 160,022 death certificates. This means that diabetes contributed to a total of 231,404 deaths.
Financial Cost of Diabetes in the USA (most of which we can safely assume is PREVENTABLE)
$174 billion: Total costs of diagnosed diabetes in the United States in 2007
$116 billion for direct medical costs
$58 billion for indirect costs (disability, work loss, premature mortality)
After adjusting for population age and sex differences, average medical expenditures among people with diagnosed diabetes were 2.3 times higher than what expenditures would be in the absence of diabetes.
Factoring in the additional costs of undiagnosed diabetes, prediabetes, and gestational diabetes brings the total cost of diabetes in the United States in 2007 to $218 billion.
$18 billion for people with undiagnosed diabetes
$25 billion for American adults with prediabetes
$623 million for gestational diabetes
