FIGHTING THE BLIGHT OF THE CENTURY CREEPING UP ON US

Non-communicable diseases are the leading cause of death and disease around the world. But the US has torpedoed a new UN plan to tackle them that had been painstakingly negotiated

- K SRINATH REDDY

COMMON threats to global development and security call for a concerted global thrust to counter them. This is widely recognised in case of public health emergencies such as Covid-19. An escalating disrup tion like climate change is seen as an imminent threat since its malign manifestations are already ravaging Earth.

However, there are also 'slow motion' public health emergencies, which have surged over time but now call for urgent action to stem their advancing tide. Without a determined global response, such threats can prematurely end millions of human lives and derail economies. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are one example of such an alarming threat. Continued neglect of NCDs will become the blight of the 21st century.

Even at the end of the 20th century, it was clear that NCDs were the leading cause of death and disease globally, not only in high income countries but also in most of the low-, and middle-income countries. Among them, cardiovascular disease was dominant (heart attacks and strokes), followed by cancer, respiratory disease and diabetes. Tobacco claimed over 6 million lives a year, mostly in LMICs.

Yet, the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals framed in 2000 made no mention of NCDs or tobacco control. This was because those goals were scripted by rich countries that held that they had the resources to deal with NCDs, while poorer nations should worry more about health challenges like communicable diseases, and maternal and child health disorders.