Tag Archives: NCDs

Non-communicable diseases: not just in older adults

Posted on by Amanda Keifer
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In recent weeks and months, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have become a key talking point in the global health sphere. Despite common misconceptions, NCDs (defined by the World Health Organization to mainly include cancer, heart diseases, diabetes, and chronic lung disease) are the leading causes of death worldwide. Another misconception around NCDs is that most of these diseases occur in richer countries and are diseases of affluence. Not true either. According to the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), 80 percent of NCD deaths occurred in lower-income countries, up from 40 percent in 1990.

And lastly, NCDs only occur in adults, especially older adults. Wrong again.

Our generation of young people is the largest ever: 43% of the world’s population is under the age of 25. Many risk factors for NCDs, including tobacco and alcohol use and diet, are established during adolescence. Evidence and statistics back this up: 20-40% of adolescents are overweight; and globally, between 80,000 and 100,000 young people start smoking EVERY DAY.

Not only are young people not immune to NCDs… the prevalence of NCDs among youth and adolescents is on the rise. For example, according to a study by Johns Hopkins, 1 in 10 young people have asthma and by the age of 15 more than 25% of obese adolescents have early signs of diabetes.

But NCDs include other health issues like mental illness, motor vehicle accidents, homicides, suicides, and other types of violence. It is estimated that 500 young people die every day due to interpersonal violence.

At the end of last year, the Lancet published its first ever series entirely dedicated to the subject of adolescent health. The papers in this series noted, among many other things, that there remains a huge gap in data pertaining to NCDs in young people. Researchers also found that while the health outcomes for younger children (especially those under 5 years of age) has improved significantly in the last 50 years, the health of adolescents has improved far less so. Much of this is due to both a general focus in the global health community to children under 5 (ie the MDGs) and due to the changing burden of disease among adolescents.

Sawyer et. al’s paper, “Adolescence: a foundation for future health,” road traffic accidents are the leading cause of death among people aged 10-24 years. When combined with suicide and homicide, violence and war, drownings and other accidents accounted for 40 percent of ALL deaths of people aged 10-24.

So what does this all mean? It means that youth and adolescents are indeed vulnerable to NCDs. It also means that because of this, young people have to be involved in the development of the new set of international development and health targets beyond 2015 (when the Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs, expire). And finally, it means that without addressing the specific preventative health needs of young people – like obesity, tobacco and alcohol use, mental health, and accidents – such goals and targets cannot be achieved.

UNICEF Begins to Tackle NCDs in Children and Adolescents

Posted on by Amanda Keifer
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The following is a guest blog from Jeff Meer, Special Advisor for Global Health Policy and Development at the Public Health Institute (PHI). 

Dr. Nicholas Alipui, director of programs at UNICEF, announced last week that the agency has decided to update its iconic information resource “Facts for Life” to include information about non communicable diseases (NCDs) in children and adolescents. Speaking at a Ministerial breakfast as part of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on July 6, Dr. Alipui said that by updating “Facts for Life” with information about NCDs, ordinary people the world over will have access to vital information they need about preventing NCDs in children and adolescents, as well as non-technical information about diagnosis and treatment.

“Facts for Life,” first published in 1989, has 14 chapters devoted to ensuring children’s rights to survival, growth, development and well-being. The information is presented in simple and compelling language and clear images for use among families and communities the world over. The new chapter on NCDs will be ready in “about a year,” according to Dr. Alipui.

Speaking to UN member states at the breakfast, Dr. Alipui said that UNICEF has decided to keep the face of children and adolescents squarely in front of the NCD community.  ”It is a fallacy that NCDs affect only older people,” he said, “just as it is untrue that NCDs only affect the wealthy.”  NCDs including cancer, diabetes, chronic heart disease and chronic lung disease represent the cause of almost two thirds of all deaths worldwide today. “UNICEF believes that the best way to approach NCDs is to adopt a lifestyle perspective,” Dr. Alipui said.

The Ministerial Breakfast, entitled “Working Well! Safeguarding Adolescents and Youth Livelihood in the Face of NCDs and their Risk Factors” was co-sponsored by UNICEF, the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), and NCD Child (PHI is a member of the steering committee of NCD Child). The breakfast was moderated by Henry Mac-Donald, the Permanent Representative of Suriname to the United Nations.  Dr. Arturo Cervantes Trejo, General Director of Mexico’s National Center for Injury Prevention at the Ministry of Health, delivered closing remarks.  Speakers included Dr. John Andrus, deputy director of PAHO, Sir George Alleyne, former PAHO executive director, and Dr. Kate Armstrong, President of the Australian NGO Caring and Living as Neighbors.  Representatives from at least 15 member states, including the United States, attended.

Member state representatives reviewed several documents at the breakfast, including the Oakland Statement on NCDs in Children and Adolescents, as well as an issues paper prepared by NCD Child on the effects of NCDs on employment of young people.

Following the breakfast, Dr. Alipui reconvened interested representatives from nonprofits and for-profit corporations at UNICEF headquarters for further informal conversations. Here, he continued the theme he had discussed in the Ministerial Breakfast, noting that “the heaviest burdens are now squarely in younger generations and in lower and middle-income countries.”  According to Dr. Alipui, there is widespread recognition now that NCDs have origins very early in life, and so only a lifecycle approach will work to prevent and treat them.  “This completes the circle for UNICEF,” he said “instead of focusing on one set of issues, we need to focus on the entire set of issues that children, adolescents and their families face.”