WHO effort to cut down chronic diseases

"36 million lives could be saved worldwide by 2015 if deaths from chronic diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, and cancer, are reduced by an additional 2% annually... globally, around 58 million people will die in 2005; 35million of these deaths will be from chronic diseases."

:o And the worst part of it is, the people most affected are not the rich, but the urbanised poor...

Some food for thought:

http://www.thelancet.com/collections/series/chronic_diseases

These are a series of free articles by the Lancet concerning chronic diseases and how they could be effectively reduced... especially in third-world countries (just register a username & password to read the 4 articles). The WHO is advocating an all-round approach to involve people to reduce chronic diseases around the world. I thought I'd do my part and post the link for those who might be interested and who might also be able to make a difference from their area of work... Besides, it'd make some interesting extra reading about the state of our world and where we are heading... I thought it appropriate given Coldplay's strong stand on advocacy and stuff and how it'd tie in nicely with their MTF and Live8 campaigns. Sorry they may be rather specialised and not exactly easy reading, but I figured Coldplay fans are people who do care about stuff and are pretty smart anyways :lol:

Some interesting (if not widespread) myths about "chronic diseases"

Myth #1: “Chronic diseases are diseases of affluence”

Fact: four out of five deaths from chronic disease are in low-income and middle-income countries... chronic disease risks become widespread much earlier in a country's economic development than is usually realised... as the national income of poor countries rises. They remain steady once a certain level of national income is reached, before eventually declining.

Myth #2: “People must die of something”

Fact: Certainly everyone has to die of something, but death does not need to be slow, painful, or premature. Most chronic diseases... are likely to cause people to become progressively ill and debilitated, especially if their diseases are not managed correctly. This is especially true in low-income and middle-income countries, where people tend to develop disease at younger ages, suffer longer— often with preventable complications—and die sooner than those in high-income countries. Death is inevitable, but a life of protracted ill health is not.

And since I'm at it, a couple of other related links, also from the Lancet...

The 2004 Tsunami aftermath reports for those who're interested

http://www.thelancet.com/collections/tsunami

and the UN Millennium Development Goals

http://www.thelancet.com/collections/series/millennium_development