Lifestyle Diseases Can Kill 25% Of Indians Before 70!
Isn’t it commonplace in your daily conversations with people to discover that most of them or their relatives suffer from diabetes, heart issues or even cancer? Isn’t this eventually on the rise?
Well, to confirm this casual observation there exists a study! Various global and domestic organizations have estimated that one out of 4 every Indians is at the risk of losing his life due to non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer before turning 70. Lifestyle diseases are on an all time high in India.
The findings say that each year around 5.8 million Indians lose their lives because of heart and lung diseases, stroke, diabetes and cancer. In simple words, 1 in 4 Indians are at the risk of dying because of a non-communicable disease before they turn 70.
Experts are of the opinion that the government has to build awareness programmes immediately for NCDs (non-communicable disease) just like how it is for HIV and tuberculosis.
There has been a significant rise in NCDs over the past decade and this is chiefly due to the drastic changes in lifestyle patterns. The government has so far been focusing on HIV and tropical diseases. But now there is an upsurge in NCDs and there is a need to create awareness right from community level to across the Nation. This is a must as awareness is a very low with regard to NCDs.
Organisations such as World Health Organisation and other agencies of the UN have planned certain strategies to tackle the increase in burden due to change in lifestyle and eating habits.
The government has already said that it is ready to roll out a programme for prevention and promotion in 6 districts in order to spread awareness about the diseases.
The director of general health services has said that they have selected 6 districts and around 200 doctors will be posted in every district. The doctors are currently getting training in the same regard and the programme will be launched by the month end.
According to the 2014 non-communicable disease country profile released by WHO, diseases like cancer, cardiovascular diseases and chronic respiratory problems are the major global killers. NCDs account for 38 million deaths each year with a mammoth 28 million in low and middle income nations like India. WHO estimates that non-communicable diseases account for around 60% of the total deaths reported in a year in India.
The major NCDs prevalent in India are:
- Heart and vascular diseases
- Common cancers
- Chronic lung disease
- Mental illness
Action needs to be taken and people must start realizing that these diseases can be prevented by making changes in an individual’s lifestyle.
Hope this post on how Lifestyle Diseases Can Kill 25% Of Indians Before 70 has been an eye opener!
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