Introduction

Diabetes mellitus is caused by impairment in insulin secretion (type 1 diabetes) or poor response to insulin with subsequent impairment in insulin regulation and production (type 2 diabetes), which contribute to chronic hyperglycemia..1 Elevated blood glucose is associated with microvascular and macrovascular damage that can lead to debilitating conditions, including heart disease, chronic kidney disease, diabetic neuropathy, and retinopathy. Globally, there are 537 million adults living with diabetes, of whom 90 million are in Southeast Asia and 206 million in the Western Pacific.2 Approximately half of all diabetes cases are undiagnosed, leaving millions of people unaware that they are at risk of developing life-threatening complications from a disease that was the 9th leading cause of death globally in 2019.2, 3