WHO report on Non-Communicable Diseases

What’s in News?

WHO report: ‘Invisible numbers – the true scale of non-communicable diseases’ was released recently.

Report Highlights:

• Every two seconds, one person under the age of 70 dies of a non-communicable disease (NCD) with 86 per cent of those deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries.
• In India, 66 per cent of total deaths (60.46 lakh people) were due to NCDs in 2019.
• The report further revealed that there was a 22 per cent probability of death between the age of 30 and 70 due to any type of non-communicable disease, including cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
• The World Health Organisation (WHO) has also launched a portal, which, for the first time, brings together all WHO data related to NCDs for 194 countries.

Cardio Vascular Disease:

• Globally, one in three deaths – 17.9 million a year – are due to cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).
• 86% of CVD deaths could have been prevented or delayed through prevention and treatment,
• Over 25.66 lakh deaths in 2019 in India were due to cardiovascular diseases

Hypertension:

• Two-thirds of the people with hypertension live in low- and middle-income countries, but almost half of the people with hypertension are not even aware they have it.
• Hypertension currently affects around 1.3 billion adults aged between 30 and 79.

Diabetics:

• One in 28 deaths – 2.0 million people a year – is due to diabetes.
• As per the report, more than 95 per cent of diabetes cases globally are of type 2 diabetes.
• (Type 1 diabetes is a genetic condition that often shows up early in life, and Type 2 is mainly lifestyle-related and develops over time)
• 3.49 lakh deaths in India were attributed to diabetes.

Impact of COVID-19:

• Covid-19 highlighted the links between NCDs and infectious disease, with serious impacts on NCD care.
• In the early months of the pandemic, 75 per cent of countries reported disruption to essential NCD services.

Other Highlights:

• In 2019, India had one of the highest death rates from chronic respiratory diseases
• This major shift in public health over the last decade has gone largely unnoticed
• Global adoption of right policies can prevent 39 million deaths by 2030
• With sufficient investment, however, 90 per cent of these countries can meet the UN-mandated sustainable development goal to reduce premature deaths from non-communicable diseases by a third by 2030
• Addressing major risk factors that lead to these diseases – tobacco use, unhealthy diet, harmful use of alcohol, physical inactivity and air pollution – could prevent or delay significant ill health and a large number of deaths from many NCD

Themes in WHO guidelines:

Strong national commitment to protect people from NCDs;

1. Investing in the right policies and interventions;
2. Effective delivery of healthcare services for screening, diagnosis and management;
3. Special attention to vulnerable population groups.

Global Action Plan on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable diseases 2023-2030:

A new Roadmap for the Global Action Plan on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable diseases 2023-2030 published in 2022 suggested:

1. Accelerate the national response
2. Evaluate progress and identify barriers to interventions in your country
3. Scale up and implement the most feasible and appropriate interventions
4. Work across government, with civil society, people living with NCDs and international organizations to identify the best interventions
5. Accelerate implementation of these interventions for your country
6. Align NCD action to ensure win-wins for other SDGs
7. Gather and assess timely and accurate data on NCDs
8. Monitor NCD measures to demonstrate where there has been success and where more is still required

Sustainable Development Goals and NCDs:

SDG Target 3.4 - Reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being.

India’s initiatives for NCDs:

National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular disease and Stroke (NPCDCS)

Considering the rising burden of NCDs and common risk factors to major Chronic Non –Communicable Diseases, Government of India initiated an integrated National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancers, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS) under the National Health Mission.

The focus of the Programme is on health promotion and prevention, strengthening of infrastructure including human resources, early diagnosis and management and integration with the primary health care system through NCD cells at different levels for optimal operational synergies.

During the period 2010 - 2012, the programme was implemented in 100 districts across 21 States. The programme at present covers the entire country.

During February 2021, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched the operational guidelines for Integration of NAFLD (Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease) with NPCDCS.

The Strategies involved include

1. Health promotion, Awareness generation and promotion of healthy lifestyle
2. Screening and early detection including Timely, affordable and accurate diagnosis, Access to affordable treatment and Rehabilitation

Way Forward:

We need a concerted global response, which uses policy instruments that have a population-wide impact on tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy foods and air pollution

NCDs need to be accorded higher priority in financial allocation and health system strengthening initiatives, with strong emphasis on primary care