Tags:
Journalism of Courage
New Delhi, May 17: The World Health Organisation’s recently released report `The World Health Report 1999 – Making a Difference’, says that the next two decades will see dramatic changes in the health needs of the world’s population. According to the report, depression and heart disease are fast replacing infectious diseases and malnutrition as leading causes of disability and premature death in developing countries.
Injuries, both intentional and unintentional, by 2020 could rival infectious diseases worldwide as a source of ill-health. The “hidden epidemic of cardiovascular diseases” is highlighted and ischaemic heart disease is projected as the largest single cause of disease burden globally by 2020.
The third largest cause of disease burden within noncommunicable conditions is cancer which is responsible for a large proportion of years of life lost and years lived with disability. Among cancers, the most significant cause of disease burden is lung cancer which is projected to become even moreprevalent over the next few decades if the current smoking trends continue.
Observing that noncommunicable diseases will increase from 43 per cent in 1998 to 73 per cent by 2020, the Report attributes this projected rise to population ageing augmented by the rapidly increasing numbers of people who are at present exposed to tobacco and other risk factors such as obesity, physical inactivity and heavy alcohol consumption.
Injuries, intentional and unintentional, are a large and neglected health problem in all regions, accounting for 16 per cent of the global burden of disease in 1998. For adult men aged 15-44, road traffic accidents are the biggest cause of ill-health and premature death worldwide and the second biggest in developing countries.
In higher income countries road accidents and self-inflicted injuries were among the ten leading causes of disease burden in 1998. In less developed countries, road traffic accidents were the most significant cause of injuries, ranking eleventh among the mostimportant causes of lost years of healthy life. War, violence and self-inflicted injuries were all among the leading 20 causes of such loss in these countries.
The report underlines the need for health systems to adjust to deal effectively and efficiently with the globally changing nature of illness. Health policy-makers will be challenged to find the most cost-effective use of their limited resources to control the rising epidemics of noncommunicable diseases.
At the same time, it points out, health policy-makers will need to respond to the unexpectedly persistent inequalities in health status within countries.
The disease burden resulting from depression is estimated to be increasing both in developing and developed regions. Alcohol use is also quantified as a major cause of disease burden, particularly for adult men. It is the leading cause of disability for men in the developed regions and the fourth leading cause in developing regions.
Observing that globally injuries are responsible for one insix years lived with disability, the report says injuries have, however, been a neglected area of public health policy. It recommends that more attention be given to the growing problem of injuries through more comprehensive prevention, improved emergency and treatment services and better rehabilitation.
