Analysis of Non-Communicable Diseases: Global Impact and Management

This report provides a comprehensive overview of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), highlighting their status as a leading cause of global mortality. It presents background facts and figures, citing data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and other sources, to illustrate the prevalence and impact of diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer across different regions, including Australia and India. The report emphasizes the significant risk factors associated with NCDs, including lifestyle, environmental factors, and socioeconomic conditions. Furthermore, it outlines the crucial role of general practitioners (GPs) in the prevention, diagnosis, and management of these diseases, focusing on patient-centered care and promoting healthy behaviors. The report underscores the need for proactive measures and interventions to address the growing burden of NCDs and improve global health outcomes.

Burden of Non-communicable diseases
Background
1. Non-communicable diseases are referred to as medical
conditions that are not the action of infectious agents, but last
for long period of time with a slow progress. Some of the most
prevalent non communicable diseases are cardiovascular
disease, autoimmune disease, diabetes, stroke, osteoarthritis,
cancer, cataract, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer's disease.
2. Non-communicable diseases have been identified as the leading
cause of global death. According to reports from the World
Health Organization these diseases were responsible for 68% or
an estimated 38 million death in the year 2012, which was much
larger than 60% that that occurred in the year 2000 (WHO,
2018).
3. Analysis of the mortality rates also suggested that approximately
half of the people who died due to non-communicable diseases
were aged less than 70 years and half of them were females.
Some of the major risk factors that have been found to
contribute to the likelihood of a person from getting affected by
these diseases include lifestyle, environment, personal
background, genetics, gender, exposure to air pollution, smoking
and alcoholism, physical inactivity and unhealthy diet patterns
(WHO, 2016).
4. The social and economic condition of a person commonly
referred to as social determinants of health are also associated
with increased risk of non-communicable diseases.
Source- (WHO, 2018)
Facts and Figures
References
Name of the Student
1. Non-communicable diseases have been found responsible for killing
an estimated 41 million individuals every year that is approximately
equivalent to 71% of all global death. Every year around 15 million
individuals die from a non-communicable disease. These people
usually very between the age group of 30-69 years (WHO, 2018).
2. Additionally, 85% of the premature death was found to occur in
middle and low income countries. While cardiovascular diseases
accounted for the most number of death (17.9 million), these were
followed by cancer (9 million), diabetes (1.6 million) and respiratory
diseases (3.9 million).
3. The non communicable diseases have also been found to threaten
the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
4. Results from the 2014-15 National Health Survey suggested that
23% Australians suffer from non-communicable diseases. These
chronic conditions were also found responsible for more than three
quarters of the non fatal burden of all illnesses in the year 2011 in
Australia (Melaku et al., 2018).
5. Susceptibility to non-communicable diseases is found to be 2-3
times larger in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, when
compared to the non-indigenous Australian population.
Furthermore, non communicable diseases also accounted for 9 in 10
deaths in the year 2015 (Abs.gov.au, 2016).
1. Reports from the World Health Organization also suggested that
non-communicable diseases were responsible for approximately 5.2
million deaths in the year 2008 in India. Cardiovascular diseases
contributed to 45% of all deaths, followed by chronic respiratory
disorders, cancer, and diabetes.
2. Although a slight decrease has been observed in the prevalence of
tobacco consumption in the Indian population, it is still higher than
the entire global rates (23.6% in males) (WHO, 2014).
3. Further reports also suggested that, 1 in 4 individuals aged above
18 years have a susceptibility of higher blood pressure on
hypertension, with a 10% increase in prevalence rate from 2010-
2014. Country profile data also suggested that there exists 26%
probability of Indians of dying between ages 30-70 years. Of the
total 9, 81,000 deaths in 2014, non-communicable diseases alone
accounted for 60% of them, with cardiovascular diseases
accounting for 26% (WHO, 2014).
Abs.gov.au. (2016). AUSTRALIA'S LEADING CAUSES OF DEATH, 2015. Retrieved from
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/3303.0~2015~Main%20Features~Australia's%20leading%20causes%20of%20death,%2
02015~3
.
Melaku, Y. A., Renzaho, A., Gill, T. K., Taylor, A. W., Dal Grande, E., de Courten, B., ... & Riley, M. (2018). Burden and trend of diet-related non-
communicable diseases in Australia and comparison with 34 OECD countries, 1990–2015: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study
2015. European journal of nutrition, 1-15.
World Health Organization. (2014). Burden of NCDs and their risk factors in India. Retrieved from
http://www.searo.who.int/india/topics/noncommunicable_diseases/ncd_situation_global_report_ncds_2014.pdf.
World Health Organization. (2014). Noncommunicable Diseases Country Profiles 2014. Retrieved from
http://www.searo.who.int/india/topics/noncommunicable_diseases/ncd_country_profile_2014.pdf.
World Health Organization. (2016). Noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/ncds/en/.
World Health Organization. (2018). Noncommunicable diseases. Retrieved from
http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/noncommunicable-diseases.
World Health Organization. (2018). The top 10 causes of death. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310/en/index2.html.
Role of GP
1. The general practitioners are entitled with the duty of treating the
common non-communicable diseases and referring all patients to
medical Services and hospitals for specialist treatment. They need
to focus on the overall health of the individual that takes into
account the psychological, social, and physical aspects of care.
The primary duty of general practitioners would be to promote,
prevent, and initiate treatment for all kinds of non-communicable
diseases.
2. They should look after their patients suffering from such chronic
illnesses, with the primary aim of keeping the service users in their
home settings, while ensuring delivery of best possible care
services. Owing to the fact that general practitioners of an act as
the first point of contact, the emotional, social, physical, cultural,
spiritual, and economic aspects of the patient must be taken into
consideration by a patient centered care approaches during
prevention of diseases.
3. They should regularly perform clinical examinations of the patients
for assessing, diagnosing, and monitoring the conditions.
Conduction of different tests, interpretation of the findings from
the tests is also essential.
4. The general practitioners should also work towards increasing the
physical activity of the population, bringing about alterations in
their diet patterns, reducing blood pressure levels, and helping the
target population gain awareness on the ill effects of smoking and
alcoholism. All of these would help in prevention of non-
communicable diseases.
Source- (WHO, 2018)
Source- (Abs.gov.au, 2016)