The global burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is one of the biggest threats to international health and development, confirms a major new Series in the Lancet today. These diseases – cancer, cardiovascular disease, and chronic respiratory disease and diabetes – are the most common cause of death and disability, accounting for 54% of all disability and 65% of deaths worldwide. Rising fastest in low- and middle-income countries and impacting disproportionately on disadvantaged communities; NCDs are threatening human and economic development.
Produced by some of the world’s most eminent scientists and academics, including from within the NCD Alliance civil society network, the Series provides the evidence for NCDs as a development issue and proposes cost-effective interventions to accelerate progress and avert millions of deaths worldwide. The Series highlights the urgent need to include NCDs in the post-2015 development agenda and the new development goals being devised over the next 2 years by governments and the United Nations (UN).
Read more at The NCD Alliance
