Raising excise taxes on tobacco is one of the WHO's recommendations to help cut the number of deaths from chronic diseases globally. (Susana Vera/Reuters) The United Nations meets this week to discuss costly chronic diseases such as heart attacks, cancer and Type 2 diabetes.
Ahead of the two-day meeting, the World Health Organization listed 14 solutions it said could save tens of millions of people. The price tag for all developing countries to adopt these measures is $11.4 billion US every year.
Noninfectious diseases — such as heart attacks and strokes, cancers, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease — kill about 36 million people every year, mostly in poor countries.
In every region except Africa, those diseases kill more people than the ones that spread like AIDS and tuberculosis. But WHO projects that by 2030, chronic diseases are expected to contribute to 75 per cent of global deaths.
These non-communicable diseases or NCDs are often considered diseases of wealthy countries that are blamed on eating unhealthy food, leading sedentary lifestyles and consuming tobacco and too much alcohol.
The WHO's list of recommendations included measures that targeted whole populations, such as:
1.Adding excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol.
2.Legislating for smoke-free indoor workplaces and public places.
3.Providing generic drugs for people with Type 2 diabetes and those at risk of heart attacks and strokes.
4.Convincing food manufacturers and consumers to cut back on salt and trans fats.
5.Promoting public awareness programs on improving diet and improving physical activity.
6.Screening and early treatment of precancerous lesions to prevent cervical cancer.
7.Immunizing against hepatitis B to prevent liver cancer.
It is the only the second such high-level meeting to be held on a threat to global health. The first was a decade ago on HIV/AIDS.
On Monday, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a declaration recognizing the economic and social toll of chronic diseases. There were no firm funding pledges or specific targets.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2011/09/19/chronic-disease-un.html
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