Along with many infectious diseases that cause a problem in developing countries, noncommunicable diseases are one of the leading killers today and are on the increase. In 2008, 36.1 million people died from conditions such as heart diseases, strokes, chronic lung diseases, cancer and diabetes. Unlike people’s belief that noncommunicable diseases are developed countries disease, nearly 80% of these deaths occurred in low-and middle income countries. Even bigger problem is that unlike in developing countries, about 30% of people dying from noncommunicable diseases in low income countries are aged less than 60 years and are in their most productive period of life. However, millions of deaths can be prevented by stronger implementation of measures that exist today. These include policies that promote government – wide action against noncommunicable diseases: strong anti-tobacco control and promotion healthier diets, physical activity, and reducing harmful use of alcohol; along with improving people’s access to essential health care. As we see from the above, all these actions are possible without aids that even developing countries with not enough money can do it. For example, the country with high smoker rates, they can try to decrease these rates with raising tax on tobacco, banning tobacco advertising and legislation to curb smoking in public places. They can also try to prevent the noncommunicable diseases with reducing level of salt in foods, stopping the inappropriate marketing of unhealthy food and non-alcoholic beverages to children, and controls on harmful alcohol use. People had been care for the infectious diseases in developing countries too much that ignored the fact that noncommunicable is as big problem as infectious diseases. It is important for these developing countries to put effort to reduce the problem with noncommunicable diseases along with infectious diseases.
A big part of why noncommunicable diseases are on the rise is due to societal standards of wealth. Excess amounts of tobacco and alcohol use in our country are seen as low class behavior. However, in developing countries, these are considered luxuries that westerners can afford, and so if they can afford it, they are of better standing.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, poor nutrition can be attributed to the fact that low cost food, like pastas, breads, and rice, are filling, but often lack any good nutrition. The poor cannot afford good vegetables and meats.
The fight against noninfectious diseases in developed countries is a very tough one, since it often relies on choices people make, such as whether to smoke, exercise, or eat health foods. In developing countries, it's a bit different, since unhealthy foods tend to be cheaper, and they can't afford primary care or medication to prevent other diseases. As for how to fix the problem, having the government take action works for some problems, but in other cases people simply don't make the healthy choice or can't afford it. And taxing the things poor people pay for is definitely not the way to help them out of it; educating them not to spend money on unhealthy things is a better use of time and money, as well as trying to lower the prices of healthy alternatives.
ReplyDeleteAs stated in the article the four chief risk factors that account for approximately 80 percent of all non-communicable deaths (NCD’s) are: tobacco use, physical inactivity, the harmful use of alcohol and poor diets. Much of what you said seems to ring true – there is much that can be done that involves relatively little effort. Again, as you have said, these changes must originate from the government – raise of tax on tobacco products, curb the advertising of unhealthy food, etc. While not exactly cost-free, it seems as if measures such as those mentioned might be one of the most appropriate ways to help reduce deaths associated with NCD’s.
ReplyDeleteThe issue here is that it often takes very advanced and expensive technology to treat these diseases that are either far to expensive for clinics in the developing world, or are difficult to access in the location because of the vast amount of remote villages with inaccessible roads. People often suffer from these disadvantages, and it will be a very long and difficult struggle to try to fix this problem, and only funding from political and private powerhouses will enable people to get the care they need.
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