Chapter 6: Neglected Global Epidemics: three growing threats
Neglected Global Epidemics: three growing threats
Today, the burden of deaths and disability in developing countries caused by noncommunicable diseases, particularly cardiovascular conditions, outweighs that imposed by long-standing communicable diseases. To tackle this well-recognized "double burden", this chapter proposes a "double response" which integrates prevention and control of both communicable diseases and noncommunicable diseases within a comprehensive health care system.
The chapter also examines the stealthy but rapid evolution of two other epidemics, and ways to respond to them. The globalization of tobacco-related diseases can be countered through the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Simultaneously, the "hidden epidemic" of road traffic casualties and traffic-related environmental hazards can be reduced if developing countries adapt successful road safety and other improvements from elsewhere to meet their own needs.