Chronic disease worldwide

When all you do is treat patients with chronic diseases like cancer, as oncologists and internists and family practitioners do, you may think that worldwide the situation is the same. But until recently, communicable diseases like tuberculosis and HIV were the main source of death. But now chronic diseases, like cancer, diabetes and heart disease surpass infectious illnesses as the worldwide leader in deaths, according to a recent World Health Organization report. These so-called non-communicable illnesses caused 67% of deaths worldwide. As the article goes on to say, these are potentially preventable in many cases "if people did more to avoid risk factors like smoking, drinking and being overweight." This does not seem totally surprising given that we are getting better at treating communicable diseases with medications but we have yet to find good motivators for smoking cessation and promoting healthy lifestyles. In a related article, the WHO lists its "best buys" for reducing the burden of chronic disease. My favorite: protecting people from tobacco smoke and banning smoking in public places. The list is tobacco heavy, but that is not surprising since smoking is linked to COPD, lung cancer and coronary artery disease, three of the biggies in chronic diseases.