Chronic Diseases: The Escalating Dilemma in Developing Countries

The World Health Organization expects deaths from non-communicable diseases to rise by 15% between 2010 and 2020, with jumps of over 20% in Africa and South-East Asia. For example, the number of people in the developing world with diabetes will increase by more than 2.5-fold, from 84 million in 1995 to 228 million in 2025. Furthermore, the WHO reported that almost 80% of deaths from chronic diseases now occur in developing countries, where most of the world’s population lives. Chronic diseases negatively affect quality of life (QoL) of affected individuals, contribute to premature death, and create huge economic burdens on families, communities and societies in general. Unless urgent action is taken, 41 million people will die of a chronic disease in 2015. This book creates awareness about the problem in developing countries by outlining the magnitude and critically analysing the dilemma (that is the double burden of disease) and putting it in context, while examining the issues, best practices, government policies, prevention, the direction and the way forward using an integrated approach. The book relates chronic diseases to climate change and sustainable development, which has not been done before. It points out the need for involvement of the non-health sector, discusses dialog with the food industry, and media for better understanding and solutions to the problem. It calls for urgent action to prevent the problem from escalating and gives a number of recommendations.