ABSTRACT
The World Health Organization describes non-communicable diseases as diseases of long duration, generally slow progression and a major cause of adult mortality and morbidity. Non-communicable diseases (NCD), principally cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers and chronic respiratory diseases, caused an estimated 35 million deaths in 2005, according to the WHO. This figure represents 60 per cent of all deaths globally, with 80 per cent of deaths due to non-communicable diseases occurring in low and middle income countries, and approximately 16 million deaths involving people under 70 years of age. A total of 63 per cent of all deaths in 2008 – 36 million people – were caused by NCDs. Total deaths from NCDs are projected to increase by a further 17 per cent over the next ten years. 1 The term non-communicable disease is a cause-based classification of disease. In this classification approach, diseases may be classified into three main groups: communicable disease, non-communicable disease and injuries. This is a predominantly research-based approach to disease classification, one based on causative agents. Non-communicable diseases are characterised by being non-infectious. However, being non-infectious does not mean being non-transmissible. The vectors for non-communicable diseases are not biological agents like mosquitoes, but social agents like alcohol, tobacco, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity. For example, comparison of diseases using this approach between Sub-Saharan Africa and the rest of the world is summarised in Figure 10.1.
