Progress on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases in the Western Pacific Region : country capacity survey 2017

Overview

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) – especially cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) – are the leading cause of death and are responsible for 71% of deaths worldwide and 86% in the WHO Western Pacific Region. These NCDs share modifiable behavioural risk factors such as tobacco use, unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity and harmful use of alcohol, which lead to four metabolic/physiologic changes – raised blood pressure, overweight and obesity, raised blood glucose, and raised cholesterol.