Chronic diseases: Asia's emerging health threat
People are living longer and fewer are dying from infectious disease, but this progress in health is no guarantee of living happily and healthily.
People are living longer and fewer are dying from infectious disease, but this progress in health is no guarantee of living happily and healthily. In fact, international experts warn to brace ourselves for the next pandemic: chronic diseases - and as a result, disabilities.
Two in three deaths worldwide (34.5 million) were from chronic diseases in 2010 - an increase of about eight million between 1990 and 2010, according to the landmark Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 published in The Lancet last month, a collaborative project by nearly 500 scientists from more than 300 institutions in 50 countries.
Comparing 2010 and 1990, eight million people died from cancer, a 38 per cent increase; one in four deaths (12.9 million) was from heart disease or stroke, versus one in five; and diabetes killed twice as many people, or 1.3 million. Conversely, one in four deaths was due to communicable diseases and maternal, neonatal, or nutritional causes - down 34 per cent.
"The key message of the study is overwhelming: that there's a huge shift [from infectious diseases] towards chronic disease and disabilities," says Professor Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which released the report findings last month. "In a sense it's actually good news: it's the next stage, it's societal success in a way."
It's not enough to add years to your life, but life to your years
But the advancement that's led to this success has also brought about a new lifestyle: one of little exercise; a diet of processed food that's high in bad fats, sugars and salt; and a growing smoking problem. These lifestyle factors are linked to high blood pressure, diabetes, and raised blood lipids - all direct causes and risk factors for chronic disease.