ABSTRACT
Of the 57 million global deaths in 2008, 63% or 36 million were due to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) (Alwan et al., 2010), and annual NCD deaths are projected to further rise worldwide. NCDs mainly comprise cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), diabetes, cancers, and chronic respiratory diseases. Decades ago, as popular belief presumes, they were typically found in developed countries due to the predominantly sedentary lifestyle (WHO, 2010a).
