New strategies needed to combat disease in developing countries
So-called lifestyle diseases are gaining ground with epidemic
speed in low-income countries. The traditional health focus in
these countries has been to combat communicable diseases such as
malaria, HIV and tuberculosis. However, research from the
University of Copenhagen suggests that dividing campaigns into
combating either non-communicable or communicable diseases is
ineffective and expensive. A new article by Danish scientists
published in the well-reputed journal Science provides an
overview. A prognosis from WHO in 2002 indicates that by 2030,
we can expect the relationship between non-communicable and
communicable diseases to have shifted so that non-communicable
diseases are the most common cause of death in the world's
poorest countries. The shift is anticipated due to longer
lifespan as well as increased urbanisation in low-income
countries: "This development means that 57% of the world's
deaths in 2030 will be due to the major non-comm