On 13 May 2010, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution that proposed diverse methods for prevention of NCDs and asked for a high-level UN meeting in September 2011. The efforts have begun, the problem is growing bigger, and now it is time to see what this group plans to do.
The movie Super Size Me is a perfect example of how a bad diet leads not only to the “aesthetic issue” of obesity, but also to an incredible number of health problems that overburden our bodies and the medical systems that we rely on in the long term.
One of the leading preventable causes of non-communicable diseases is tobacco use. Smoking has been proven to cause several cardio-respiratory problems, but it has not yet been possible to ban it from our everyday consumption.
Here you can find a short introduction to the book “A Biography of Cancer: The Emperor of all Maladies” by Siddharta Mukherjee. This book won the Pulitzer prize for non-fiction. It deals with all of the unknown aspects of the fight against cancer. Mukherjee’s book makes cancer seem less like a disease and more like a way of life; a chronic ailment for mankind that we must get accustomed to.
Alcohol is regulated, so is cigarette and so are drugs; should we regulate sugar, too? asks this woman, writing for the New York Times. It seems that the health problems caused by this substance, although slow-moving, create numerous insidious complications and cause incalculable burdens for national health budgets.
In a globalized world, problems tend to involve more than one issue. In the case of non-communicable diseases, a constellation of political, commercial and scientific issues play in to the fight against these terrible diseases. Communicable diseases are the past; it is time for innovation.
Here the case of South Africa serves an example of the “race against time” represented by NCDs, either they start preventing, or the economic and social costs will become unaffordable in the next years.
At the First Global Ministerial Conference (Moscow, 28-29 April 2011), a paper with some recommendations and a rough idea of the situation was presented. When dealing with finding solutions, here you can find some of the proposals to support your original ideas.
“Naked Chef” Jamie Oliver took advantage of the high-level meeting in September 2011 to promote his campaign on the Internet asking for help in the fight against obesity. According to him it is all about informing the people and helping them to make the right choices.
It was possible to build up a healthy and strong society with sports. By introducing volleyball in Nauru, Australia, a whole community started fighting against the huge expenses created by obesity and cardiorespiratory diseases. It is all about clever ideas to change the current habits of the people.
There is a “major gap in the international agenda”, it is necessary to start working for assuring a better future for developing countries that are getting trapped by the net of incredible expenses such as NCDs.
Adapting to a chronic condition isn’t as easy as it looks like, recently some universities have started offering courses to help these people(mostly old population) to build their lives based on the annoying necessities required by a constant condition of disease.
The CEO of an organization called the “World Heart Federation” talks about the UN Summit, and summarizes the problematic around NCDs. It seems that the UN summit really seemed for many people as an important moment in the planification of our nearby future.
This illustrated video presented by the WHO serves as a great introduction to the problematic of NCDs. In only one minute and 47 seconds you’ll know almost everything you need to know about them without any spoken word.
Smoking can look nice in a good photography, but if you take one second to analyze it, this person is attempting against his health and against your own health care system.
Photo taken by The Djudju Beast, published on Flickr.com (CC BY-NC 2.0)
A woman is receiving chemotherapy … now the quality of her life lies on the hands of these doctors.
Photo taken by kbrookes, published on Flickr.com (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
It is symbolic to see how many pills must a person consume in only one morning.
Photo taken by Derek K. Miller, published on Flickr. com (CC BY-NC. 2.0)
