Numbers with type 2 diabetes could almost double in two decades - report Sally Murphy A professor in human nutrition and medicine says the latest nationwide snapshot of diabetes has left him dumbstruck. Each month, around 50 people lose a limb to the disease and New Zealand's current cost of treatment sits at more than $2.1 billion a year. A PwC report commissioned by Diabetes New Zealand, the university of Otago's Edgar Diabetes and Obesity Research Centre and Healthier Lives National Science Challenge, predicts things are set to get a lot worse. It claims the number of people with type 2 diabetes could rise by as much as 90 percent across the next two decades inflicting a "staggering" bill on taxpayers.