ABSTRACT
The rise of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) is associated with increasing modernization and globalization. Chronic diseases are a result of lifestyle, which is a major social determinant of health. Lifestyle often appears to exist only at the micro level, but emerging evidence has shown that lifestyle has a lot to do with macro and super-macro factors, which can coerce micro level behavior. The continuous process of industrialization, urbanization, global markets and media technologies have altered the realities of social existence beyond measure. Globalization is a factor of change, development and economic progress affecting all spheres of life, including nutrition, communication and human well-being. The Global South is experiencing some socio-economic transitions in line with the modernization agenda. The assimilation of modernization (globalization) recipes holds several implications (including health implications). The current health discourse is about epidemiologic transition involving a succession of modern risks in place of traditional risks. This chapter also examines the behavioral factors in NCDs, with a focus on how globalization has accounted for the proliferation of these risk factors, which further weaken the health systems of most countries of the Global South. The chapter strengthens the arguments using McDonaldization theory: That the digital world has not merely McDonaldized food, but other marketables or commodifiables as well, especially in the realm of goods with high health risk (including tobacco and alcohol).
