According to the World Health Organization, a noncommunicable disease (“NCD”) is a noninfectious health condition that cannot be spread from person to person, lasts for a long period of time and is also known as a chronic disease.

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What are the most common noncommunicable diseases?

Some noncommunicable diseases are more common than others. The four main types of noncommunicable diseases include cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease, and diabetes.  Further poor diet and physical inactivity can cause increased: blood pressure, blood glucose, blood lipids and obesity. 

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A combination of genetic, physiological, lifestyle, and environmental factors can cause these diseases. Some risk factors include: unhealthy diets, lack of physical activity, smoking and secondhand smoke, excessive use of alcohol. Noncommunicable diseases kill around 40 million people each year. This is about 70 percent of all deaths worldwide.

 

Further, Noncommunicable diseases affect people belonging to all age groups, religions, and countries. Noncommunicable diseases are often associated with older people. However, 15 million annual deaths from noncommunicable diseases occur among people aged 30 to 69. More than 85 percent of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries and in vulnerable communities where access to preventative healthcare is lacking.

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While many of these diseases are incurable, they can be managed with medical treatment. At the center of the goals of the Global Health Foundations are the urgent need and ability to support immediate programs to focus on addressing the Global Diabetes Epidemic.

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Diabetes is only one of many healthcare issues that are being faced by the people of least developed and developing nations, however we feel that a focus on addressing that specific disease can provide the impetus to build the greater healthcare infrastructure to then support general triage and over time a greater range of diseases and health management needs.