Chronic diseases: the case for urgent global action |
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In a new Lancet report, editor-in-chief Richard Horton has highlighted that whilst chronic diseases are yet to be included formally in the existing eight Millennium Development Goals, “no serious conversation about global health can now take place without at least citing chronic disease as a critical part of international health strategies.”
The report entitled “Chronic diseases: the case for urgent global action” is the result of a collaboration between the Lancet (a reformist medical newspaper) and WHO scientists, aiming, according to Horton, “ to extend our understanding, not only of the impact of chronic diseases on human development but also of what can be achieved through interventions at the population and individual levels to prevent and treat some of these conditions.”
The Lancet report selected 23 countries that account for 80% of the total burden of chronic disease in developing nations, seeking to give estimates of the likely benefits and costs of interventions. These nations include the most populous such as India and China, as well as some of the most resource-poor, such as Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, and Nigeria.
The cost-effectiveness evidence for tobacco control, salt restriction, and drug treatment for high-risk cardiovascular disease is compelling in low-income and middle-income countries. Gaps remain, however, in the evidence to support policies to reduce dietary saturated and trans fat.
Salt reduction and tobacco control, for example, could avert almost 14 million deaths in these 23 priority countries, at a cost of less than US$0,40 per person per year in low-income settings. Scaling up treatment with aspirin and drugs to lower blood pressure and cholesterol would avert almost 18 million deaths over the next 10 years. The average cost would be about US$1,10 per person per year. The sum total annual cost of individual and population interventions combined is nearly US$6 billion.
Richard Horton highlights that although WHO has been particularly successful at global leadership in science and public health, many donors have been tone-deaf to robust scientific arguments. He also argues that “The World Bank, foundations, the private sector, and governments need to play catch-up.”
IFSW and its member associations also need to understand “the range of social, economic, cultural and political factors that cause or contribute to illness and disability” (IFSW International Policy on Health) and work with medical colleagues to improve the health situation of populations around the world, recognising the vast negative social impact of chronic disease – much of which can be averted through effective social policies.
Full Lancet Editorial (Free Registration Required)
The Lancet
IFSW International Policy on Health
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page last updated on 14.12.2007
