WHO Urged Immediate Action from International Leaders to Tackle Non-Communicable Diseases

HEALTHCARE

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) has introduced a new report that urges international leaders to adopt some immediate steps to tackle non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases that mainly cause 17 million deaths in people younger than 70 years of age worldwide.

According to data from the report, cancer causes the death of 9.3 million people per year across the world. Preventing 44 percent of cancer deaths can be possible by eliminating various risk factors.

The report also noted that over 40 percent of WHO member states have faced disruption of cancer treatment in 2020 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The United Nations High Level Meeting on NCDs has galvanized the global community to respond to the dramatic increase of NCDs, including cancer.

Since then, they have seen very important progress in several areas and challenges in others, which were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The important step is to sustain and accelerate this progress, using the elements contained in the report.

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As the world continues to break down, with greater emphasis on primary care and horizontal systems, and with balanced specialisation is also required for technically complex diseases like cancer.