Rising non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has begun to ring alarm bells particularly for India with a WHO report released on Monday stating that the probability of dying from the disease among people in the 30 to 70-year age group has increased to 26.2 per cent in 2012 from 26.1 per cent in 2010 in the country.
It is worst than almost the whole of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. As per the WHO, the four main NCDs are cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes or chronic respiratory diseases which have emerged as the leading cause of fatalities globally.
Switzerland fares the best with a 9.2 per cent chance and Tajikistan the worse with a whopping 40.8 per cent chance of a premature NCD death. Out of the world's 56 million deaths, NCDs were responsible for 68 per cent — 38 million deaths in 2012 — making it the leading cause of death globally, the report said.
India, in this report, has been categorised as a low-middle income country. Shanthi Mendes, lead author of the report said, “India has the resources. It needs to strengthen its primary health care system in an integrated way not with a vertical approach and working on universal health care coverage. India has reached the space age but what about its peopleIJ”
The report states that most premature NCD deaths are preventable. Of the 38 million lives lost to NCDs in 2012, 16 million or 42 per cent were premature and avoidable — up from 14.6 million in 2000.
The report has called for more action to be taken to curb the epidemic, particularly in low-and middle-income countries, where deaths due to NCDs are overtaking those from infectious diseases. Almost three quarters of all NCD deaths (28 million), and 82 per cent of the 16 million premature deaths, occur in low-and-middle-income countries.
The nine targets include reduction in harmful use of alcohol, insufficient physical activity, salt/sodium intake, tobacco use and hypertension, halt the rise in diabetes and of obesity, and improve coverage of treatment for prevention of heart attacks and strokes, as per the report.