Knight Ridder - Non-infectious diseases are today's main killers
December 23, 2011 Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News 12-16-11
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=12021&Section=Disease
Dec. 16--ABU DHABI -- Chronic non-communicable diseases are today's killers in the world. Despite people knowing the risk factors, such as smoking and unhealthy lifestyle, changing behaviour still remains a big challenge.
"A lot of people still think that a lot of people in developing countries die of infectious diseases, but this isn't the case anymore except for a few countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Most people in the world today die from chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like cardiovascular diseases, Type 2 diabetes, chronic lung diseases and cancers.
"Those countries that still face infectious diseases, they now face a double burden -- on the one hand, they're dying from HIV and malaria, and at the same time, they are being hit by these chronic diseases," said Prof Abdallah Daar, chair of the Global Alliance for Chronic Citing a report published in September this year, Prof Daar said it will cost the world about $47 trillion over the next 20 years to deal with chronic NCDs.
"And countries like the UAE are going to be hit very very badly. And not just the medical care, it's the lost opportunities, inability to work, family disruption, a lot of issues," he warned.
"This is something we need to face and do something about," urged the professor of Public Health Sciences and Surgery at the University of Toronto, Canada
Changing behaviour is the key, but it is a very challenging task.
"Unlike infectious diseases, NCDs require a different approach. It's not just about developing drugs and vaccines; it's about raising public awareness, about enhancing economic legal environmental policies. These are difficult issues -- much more complicated than lab research," he pointed out.
These include modifying the behaviour to avoid the "very familiar" risk factors -- smoking, lack of exercise, bad nutrition and overuse of alcohol, among others.
"It would need the business and community together in finding solutions. Again, it is easy to say, but very difficult to do," Prof Daar said. Speaking on Wednesday at the third annual Seha Research Conference in the Capital, Prof Daar stressed the need to engage with the "less fortunate communities" and contribute to carrying out research that would address major global health issues.
