Global chronic disease needs to be tackled, says WHO
Chronic diseases are responsible for around 17 million premature deaths
per year worldwide, according to a World Health Organization report published this week.
The report, “Preventing chronic diseases: a vital investment”,
looks at the impact of chronic disease in nine countries, including the
UK. It also examines strategies in place for preventing chronic disease
in these countries and sets out an action plan to tackle the “global
epidemic of chronic disease”.
The report highlights that, contrary to popular belief, 80 per cent of
chronic disease deaths occur in low and middle income countries, including,
for example, China, India and Nigeria, and that these deaths affect men
and women almost equally. It says that most chronic diseases are caused
by a small number of preventable risk factors, namely unhealthy diet,
lack of exercise and tobacco use. It predicts that the number of overweight
people globally could rise to 1.5 billion by 2015 — in the UK 73
per cent of women and 80 per cent of men are expected to be overweight
by 2015.
The report acknowledges that the UK has made important gains in reducing
chronic disease over the past 30 years. It estimates that three million
cardiovascular disease deaths have been prevented in the UK during this
time through effective interventions. The NHS stop smoking strategy is
highlighted in the report as an example of good practice.
The WHO sets a goal of a 2 per cent annual reduction in chronic disease
death rates until 2015 — this equates to preventing 36 million
deaths. A stepwise approach to disease prevention is proposed, including
individual interventions, population-based interventions and macroeconomic
interventions. These goals can be achieved through the co-operation of
government, private industry, civil society and communities, the report
says.
Lancet series
A series of papers is published
online in The
Lancet (www.thelancet.com) this week to coincide
with the release of the WHO report. In an accompanying comment,
Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, notes that reducing
chronic disease is not a Millennium Development Goal and says that it deserves
to be added to the existing eight MDGs, which relate to poverty, education, gender
equality, child mortality, maternal health, combating diseases, the environment
and global partnership. |
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