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PRES: A new international network of health professionals and advocates will invigorate efforts to prevent non-communicable diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Spearheaded by the World Health Organization, the new Global Noncommunicable Disease Network aims to reduce the 38 million deaths a year caused by these diseases. Bissera Kostova has more on this.

NARR: According to the World Health Organization, non-communicable diseases cause more than two-thirds of all deaths in the world, as well as much suffering and disability. And the proportion of deaths from these diseases is set to increase, says Dr. Ala Alwan, Assistant Director-General for Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health at WHO.

Alwan: The greatest increase will be seen in the African region, where we expect to have 27% increase over ten years and this is followed by the Middle East and Asia and the Pacific. The increase will only be about 4%, based on WHO estimates, in the European region.

NARR: Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, the Minister for health in Guyana, says this finding runs counter to the assumption that developing countries need to deal primarily with infectious diseases, while the non-communicable diseases are more of a problem for the rich countries. Nothing could be further from the truth, he says.

Ramsammy: The various poverty-reduction strategies do not address the issue of the chronic non-communicable diseases. We in the developing countries join with our colleagues in the developed countries and with the WHO, to call for a remedy to this anomaly that exists in terms of the developmental agenda.

NARR: The good news is that non-communicable diseases are preventable. Dr. Alwan says that with basic public health interventions, a substantial proportion of the deaths from them can be prevented.

Alwan: For example, one-third of all cancers can be prevented by these public health approaches that are affordable even in low-income countries. We can also prevent up to 50% of cases of diabetes in people who are vulnerable or at high risk of developing diabetes. And we can prevent premature death in a substantial proportion of people with existing cardio-vascular disease.

NARR: But promoting measures like healthy diets, exercise and smoking cessation that can prevent diseases like diabetes, lung cancer and heart disease, cannot be accomplished by the health sector alone, says Dr. Alwan, but must include governments, civil society and the private sector. The new global network on non-communicable diseases will bring together all of the different actors to increase advocacy, raise financial and human resources and catalyze action to save lives. For UN Radio, I'm Bissera Kostova.

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