Die young? Why, when there is no need to?

By Peter Anderson, Professor, Health and Society, Newcastle University, England and member of the Global Agenda Council on Chronic Diseases and Well-being

None of us or our families likes to get ill or die young, when we don’t need to. Yet, cancers, heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and respiratory illnesses (what are called non-communicable diseases, NCDs) do just that. Actually, the illnesses that cause the most hardship throughout the world are depression and stress. The important thing is, though, that it does not have to be like this.

The World Economic Forum created a think tank at just the right time – one year before this week’s United Nations High Level Meeting on NCDs. Dr. Mirta Roses was appointed Chair of the NCD think tank, a boost to our work, as, being Director of the Pan American Health Organization, she was right in the thick of the preparations for the UN meeting.

The think tank, composed of experts from all over the world from the private sector, civil society, government and academia, came up with some great ideas to reach out to a wide range of people at the time of the UN meeting – one of these was to prepare a series of articles to communicate what is often not told. And, where better to do this than in the Journal of Health Communication, led by Scott Ratzan, a member of our think tank. So, I and Sania Nishtar, President of Heartfile in Pakistan, collected some of the world’s top experts to write what we need to know.  

What did they say?

1.  Worldwide, two thirds of all deaths are from NCDs; contrary to common belief, the greatest burden is in low- and middle-income countries. NCDs make a devastating blow to our family and country incomes.

2.  The four simple things we can all do to avoid dying young and be healthier are:

• drink less alcohol,  and never more than two small drinks (20g alcohol) on any one day;
• cut our total salt intake to less than 5 grams a day (for most adults, this means halving our salt intake, including that in bought foods and drinks, to one teaspoon a day);
• never smoke; and
• be active, at least the equivalent of 15 minutes brisk walk a day.

3.  We are all more likely to make healthy choices, when these are the easy choices:  a social movement for health would help; changes by designers and planners in where we live, work and play could would make it much easier to be more active; and, the private sector that produces what we buy and use could adjust their existing products and services, and bring in new ones that promote health and well-being.

We launched the series of articles in New York yesterday, preceding the meeting of First Ladies, and this, along with Wellness Week, another outcome of our think tank, promotes a week that is historical for health for all.

For the rest of today, you can download the Special Issue Journal for free of charge at the following link: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/uhcm20/16/sup2