[Ip-health] 'Epidemic' of non communicable diseases report warns

[Michelle Childs]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/nov/22/medicalresearch.health

Epidemic that may kill 388m in 10 years

=B7 Preventable diseases cause 60% of deaths
=B7 Scientists' battle plan against 'silent killers'

     * James Randerson
     *
           o James Randerson, science correspondent
           o The Guardian
           o Thursday November 22 2007

An "epidemic" of health problems such as heart disease, stroke and
diabetes will kill about 388 million people worldwide over the next
decade unless governments take concerted action, according to a
report from public health experts in 55 countries.

The group has formulated a list of 20 measures which, if implemented,
would help to prevent deaths. The preventable diseases now account
for about 60% of deaths worldwide, and 44% of premature deaths. Eight
out of 10 of the deaths occur in middle or low income countries.

"This is not 'affluenza' for the rich and the old," said Dr Stig
Pramming, executive director of the Oxford Health Alliance, which
part-funded the report. "[These diseases] have been written off in
many countries as an individual's problem."

He said that the focus of research and public health funding from
global organisations such as the World Health Organisation and the
Gates Foundation had been on infectious diseases such as malaria and
tuberculosis. The WHO, for example, spends less than 4% of its budget
on so-called chronic non-communicable diseases, which include
cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases
and certain cancers.

The report, published in the journal Nature today, estimates that the
diseases will cost the UK, China and India $33bn (=A316bn), $237bn and
$558bn over the next decade in lost productivity. It distils the
measures recommended by 155 international experts into 20 public
health priorities. These include measures to discourage smoking,
alcohol consumption and unhealthy foods; mitigating the negative
impacts of poverty and urbanisation on health; and moving health
systems towards prevention rather than cure.

Pramming accepts that these are familiar public health messages, but
he says countries are having little success in implementing them.
"This is an attempt to show that we all need to work together."

Significantly, the report does not recommend research as the answer,
for example into a drug that would cure obesity.

"Without a roadmap, we are all driving in different directions. These
problems require long-term commitment and a coordinated effort
between multiple funding agencies around a set of clear priorities,"
said co-author Dr Peter Singer, interim director of the McLaughlin-
Rotman Centre for Global Health in Toronto.

The report's lead author, Dr Abdallah Daar, also of the McLaughlin-
Rotman centre, added: "In developing countries, many beset by
infectious diseases, authorities have not thought through the policy
implications of addressing these silent killers."

Pramming said that even concerted action would not save most of the
388 million lives at risk. The report estimates 36 million deaths
could be prevented by 2015.

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Michelle Childs
Head of European Affairs
Knowledge Ecology International
michelle.childs@keionline.org