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Japan mulls over name change for diabetes amid stigma concerns
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A Glocumeter strip test check of a diabetic patient. There are about 10 million diabetes patients in Japan.
ST PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: DESMOND WEE
TOKYO – Doctors in Japan are proposing a change to how diabetes is referred to in the Japanese language, citing stigma faced by patients and an inherently inaccurate perception that the name conveys.
The country revised well-established names for conditions such as schizophrenia in 2002 and dementia in 2004 for the same reasons.
