From Tobacco Info No. 8 -
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United Nations acknowledges pandemic of non-communicable diseases
Tobacco use one of four major risk factors
By Joe Strizzi
The United Nations General Assembly met in 2001 to sound the alarm on a global health epidemic known as HIV/AIDS. This was the first ever health summit held by the UN.
Ten years later, for just the second time in UN history, world leaders, delegates and health officials gathered in New York, in September, to discuss another potential health pandemic: non-communicable diseases, at a special High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly.
“Let there be no doubt,” said General Assembly president Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, “that non-communicable diseases have reached epidemic proportions,” adding that they were altering demographics, stunting development and impacting economic growth across the planet.
What are non-communicable diseases?
A non-communicable disease, or NCD, is a medical condition or disease that is non-infectious. NCDs are diseases of long duration and generally slow progression. They include heart disease, stroke, cancer, asthma, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease and cataracts. While often referred to as chronic diseases, NCDs are distinguished by their non-infectious status. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), they are the number one killer in the world today, accounting for over 63% of all deaths.
Four types of non-communicable diseases – cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers and chronic respiratory diseases – are the greatest cause of mortality in most countries. These four NCDs are largely preventable by means of interventions that address four risk factors: tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity and harmful use of alcohol; factors that result in people dying, on average, before the age of 60 and that are responsible for over 80% of all deaths related to NCDs.
The WHO claims that deaths from NCDs will increase by 17% in the next decade. In Africa, the number will jump by 24%.
According to a Harvard University study, NCDs will, over 20 years, cost the global economy over $30 trillion ($30,000,000,000,000) or 48% of the global gross domestic product (GDP) of the year 2010.
Representing the Union for International Cancer Control, Jordan’s Princess Dina Mired, director general of the King Hussein Cancer Foundation, was the keynote speaker at the General Assembly. She stated that 360 million people would die from these diseases over the next decade, while one billion people would die from tobacco use alone this century.
“There are 36 million people dying every year – not possibly, not maybe,” she said. “The United Nations has the responsibility of delivering the right punch in this fight.”
The General Assembly, attended by more than 30 heads of state and government and approximately 100 senior ministers and experts, studied the Secretary-General’s report on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases. The report noted that NCDs have a global impact, surpassing that of communicable diseases (Note 1) in every region of the world except Africa, but where the rate of such diseases is quickly rising. By 2030, NCDs are projected to cause nearly five times as many deaths as communicable diseases worldwide.
According to the report, the burden of these diseases goes beyond the fact that those countries most affected are the most populated. Unplanned urbanization, ageing populations and the globalization of trade and product marketing, particularly for tobacco, alcohol and food, have led to a rise in the risk factors of such diseases. What’s more, it states that the lack of healthcare capacity and social protection systems means that NCDs are more likely to cause illness and death at an earlier age.
The UN report does go on to suggest that the incidence of these chronic diseases could be significantly reduced and they could, in fact, be prevented, saving millions of lives and untold suffering, through proven and affordable measures that are often comple