In a remarkable number, which seems very important, non-communicable diseases, such as those related to the heart, cancer and diabetes, are responsible for 74% of deaths around the world, while taking decisive action to confront the factors that promote infection may save tens of millions, according to the WHO. Global Health.
A recent report issued by the World Health Organization on Wednesday indicated that non-communicable diseases that can be prevented in many cases, and which people contract as a result of adopting an unhealthy lifestyle or living in unsuitable conditions, cause 41 million deaths annually, including 17 million under the age of seventy.
The World Health Organization confirmed that heart diseases, cancer, diabetes and respiratory diseases are currently the main causes of death in the world, followed by infectious diseases.
“Every two seconds a person under the age of 70 dies as a result of a non-communicable disease,” said Benti Mikkelsen, head of the department concerned with this file at the World Health Organization, in a statement to reporters in Geneva.
She pointed out that the amounts allocated to combat these diseases are very limited.
Non-communicable diseases have a significant impact on the ability of those infected with them to resist infectious diseases, which was evident with the Covid-19 pandemic.
The report pointed out that the risk of exposure to severe Covid-19 symptoms and even death as a result of infection with the virus increases for those who suffer from obesity or diabetes.
The poorest.. the most affected
The report pointed out that “the problem is that the world ignores the data, even though the latter provides a clear picture of the situation.”
Contrary to popular perceptions, rich countries are not primarily concerned with these diseases. The report stated that 86% of premature deaths from non-communicable diseases worldwide are in low- and middle-income countries, where disease prevention and treatment are inadequate.
Mikkelsen emphasized that the fight against non-communicable diseases is not only a health issue, but is linked to “equality”.
A set of data on non-communicable diseases, published by the World Health Organization on Wednesday, shows that the highest prevalence rates of deaths from cardiovascular diseases, the leading cause of death in the world, are recorded in countries such as Afghanistan and Mongolia.
“The environment in which people live often limits their decisions and makes healthy choices difficult, if not impossible,” the report said.
Although the numbers mentioned in the report are dangerous, the World Health Organization confirmed that the problem at hand can be resolved to a large extent, because the main factors causing non-communicable diseases are known and identified, as well as the most appropriate method of treatment.
Smoking, unhealthy diet, drinking alcohol, lack of physical activity, and air pollution are the main causes of the spread of non-communicable diseases.
Smoking alone kills more than eight million people annually. “More than one million people among these deaths are non-smokers,” said Doug Beecher, chief adviser to the head of the World Health Organization for non-communicable diseases.
Eight million more deaths are attributed to the unhealthy diets they adopted, either eating too little or too much food, or even eating poor quality food.
Alcohol, which leads to cirrhosis and cancer, among other consequences, kills about 1.7 million people annually, while abstaining from any physical activity causes the death of about 830,000 people.
However, the World Health Organization confirms the existence of scientifically proven means to reduce the factors that promote non-communicable diseases, stressing that all countries and if these methods are adopted, 39 million lives may be saved during the next seven years.
The report notes that allocating relatively small amounts of money to prevent and treat non-communicable diseases can make a big difference.
Injecting an additional $18 billion annually into similar measures in poorer countries could result in $2,700 billion in net economic revenues over the next seven years.