Chronic diseases taking toll on lives says WHO

GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten (DCOMM) – A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO), says that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) claim around three-quarters of all lives lost each year around the globe.

World Health Statistics covering data up to 2022, reveals that NCDs are taking an immense and increasing toll on lives, livelihoods, health systems, communities, economies, and societies.

WHO says if the trend continues, by around 2050, chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, sickle cell disease, mental illness, and respiratory illnesses, will account for 86 percent of the 90 million deaths each year, a 90 percent increase in absolute numbers, since 2019.

NCDs are mainly from a combination of genetics, environmental, behavioral, and metabolic risk factors, such as physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, harmful use of alcohol, air pollution, stress, and overweight/obesity.

The Collective Prevention Services (CPS), a department in the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development, and Labor, calls on the community to practice a healthy living lifestyle that includes eliminating alcohol and tobacco use, an unhealthy diet, and physical inactivity.

If you make changes to your current lifestyle, you will reap the health benefits. It’s never too late to make the change for a healthy lifestyle.

For more information call CPS at 542-3003; or email surveillance@sintmaartengov.org