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WHO's response
WHO's response
Under WHO's leadership more than 190 countries agreed in 2011 on global mechanisms to reduce the avoidable NCD burden, including a "Global action plan for the prevention and control of NCDs 2013-2020". This plan aims to reduce the number of premature deaths from NCDs by 25% by 2025 through 9 voluntary global targets, which address risk behaviours, such as tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity. “Best buy” or cost-effective, high-impact interventions exist to help governments meet the global targets.
Regional burden
What is the regional burden?
The regional burden of NCDs continues to grow and tackling this burden constitutes one of the major development challenges of the 21st century. NCDs claimed over 2.2 million lives in 2012, over 57% of all deaths. Future projections indicate there will be an alarming increase in the prevalence of NCDs with the 4 main NCDs causing as many as 2.4 million deaths in 2025, unless serious action is taken.
What casues NCDs
What causes NCDs?
The four main NCDs are caused, to a large extent, by 4 unhealthy behaviours, or risk factors: tobacco use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and harmful use of alcohol. These unhealthy behaviours lead to 4 key metabolic/biological changes that increase the risk of NCDs: raised blood pressure, overweight/obesity, high blood glucose levels/diabetes, and hyperlipidemia (high levels of fat in the blood).
