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by Xinhua writer Gu Zhenqiu UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- As the UN General Assembly on Monday opened an unprecedented high-level meeting on the non- communicable diseases (NCDs), the four main diseases of this kind - - cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic lung diseases and diabetes -- are brought to the limelight for the first time at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The high-level meeting, described by UN leaders as a "landmark" event here, presents a unique opportunity for the world community to broker an international commitment that puts the NCDs high on the development agenda in a bid to save millions of lives and enhance development initiatives. The international community used to focus on communicable diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis (TB), while the four main NCDs, commonly known as the chronic or lifestyle- related disease, have emerged relatively unnoticed in the developing world and are now becoming a global epidemic. "As leaders, we have for a long time focused our attention on other diseases such as HIV and AIDS, TB and Malaria, and in the process, have overlooked the growing threat posed by NCDs to humanity. Our meeting today awakens us to the reality that NCDs have now surpassed HIV and AIDS as the leading cause of deaths worldwide," Gabriel Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe, said at the opening of the high-level meeting. The four main NCDs kill three in five people who died from diseases worldwide, and cause great socio-economic harm within all countries, particularly in developing nations. Death and disease from the NCDs now outstrip communicable diseases in every region except Africa. They constitute one of the major challenges for development in the 21st century, undermine social and economic advancement throughout the world, and threaten the achievement of internationally agreed development goals. In fact, the NCDs are nothing new. As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon put it in his report, "the knowledge and technology to fight the onset and effects of non-communicable diseases already exist." Unfortunately, this kind of knowledge and technology have not been applied in due way. The real picture is really appalling: such diseases killed 36 million people in 2008, representing 63 percent of the 57 million global deaths that year, and they are projected to claim the lives of 52 million people in 2030. Against such a backdrop, a logical question is: What has made it harder to fight such diseases, which are preventable? Or in other words, a more logic question may be: What are needed to ensure a success in fighting such diseases? To offer a sound answer, one should not simply confine himself to the medical field, the political, economic and social factors must be taken into account. This is because the impact of the NCDs can no longer be viewed solely as a health crisis. First, a stronger political will is necessary. The UN member states need to develop a comprehensive strategy and a strong capacity to prevent and control the NCDs. To reach this target, governments should demonstrate their political will and honor their political commitment. The four main diseases, though long known to all, represent a new frontier in the fight to improve public health. This means the primary role and responsibility of governments in responding to the NCDs challenges and the essential need for the efforts and engagement of all sectors of society to generate effective responses for the prevention and control of the diseases. Secondly, international cooperation is essential. As we all know, the NCDs affect the developing world and low- income populations hardest, as low-income countries have higher rates of childhood obesity and higher rates of young smokers than high-income countries. Poverty is one of the major barriers to successful fight against the NCDs. Strong evidence links poverty, lack of education and other social determinants to such diseases and their risk factors. A vicious cycle is created by the epidemic, whereby the NCDs and their risk factors worsen poverty, while poverty results in rising rates of such diseases. HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, including TB, scare donors into opening their wallets, but heart disease, cancer and respiratory diseases are just as threatening to the health and development of poor countries. It is the time now for the NCDs to grab the attention they deserve. Initiatives to reduce the NCDs-related death tolls will draw in the money and effort. The developing countries, most of whom are lacking necessary resources and basic technology to fight the NCDs, need essential assistance to implement their national efforts to generate an effective response to these diseases. The aid should be translated into the availability of basic technologies and treatment of such diseases in the developing world. At the same time, lessons from the fight against HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases should be harnessed for effective integration of NCDs initiatives. All these efforts call for stronger efforts to beef up international cooperation. Thirdly, a quality education program is crucial. Throughout the world, groups with greater education enjoy better health, less disease, and live longer. This observation was substantiated throughout the 20th century and remains a fundamental factor for both communicable and non-communicable diseases, experts said. Tobacco use, an unhealthy diet, lack of physical exercises and harmful alcohol use are the major risk factors to fuel the persistent increase of the NCDs. Therefore, people, young people in particular, should be educated to better understand these risk factors of the NCDs and develop a healthy lifestyle. A decade ago, a General Assembly special session on HIV/AIDS placed the killer disease high on the development agenda. Therefore, the current high-level meeting offers a chance to broker an international commitment that gives top priority to the prevention and control of the NCDs, so that they will not have to compete with the big and important current priority of cutting the deaths of women in childbirth and newborn babies, as required by the Millennium Development Goals, the universally accepted anti- poverty targets to be reached by 2015. I am an expert from seamlessweldedpipe.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Stainless Steel Welded Pipes , Carbon Steel Welded Pipes Manufacturer, Carbon Steel Seamless Pipe,and more.
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