Women’s health problems in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) have changed dramatically over the last three decades. But today let’s talk about noncommunicable diseases that occur in women.
Nowadays, noncommunicable diseases in women– includes:
- Cardiovascular disease
- Cancer
- Diabetes
- Chronic respiratory disease
- Mental and neurological disabilities
These are the leading causes of death and disability in women in developing and developed countries.
Noncommunicable diseases in women are responsible for 39.5 million deaths each year and 50% of the injury burden worldwide. Populations of low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) face a disproportionate share of the burden, with over 80% of all preventable deaths under 70 in such countries.
Women and girls are at exceptionally high risk
About two out of every three women die from Non-communicable diseases, a total of 16.8 million deaths.
Without careful attention to women’s and girls’ needs, the effects of Non-communicable diseases will unravel the fragile health gains achieved over the last 20 years and undermine future efforts to ensure gender equality and safe life for all. So our focus for the future involves actions to integrate the RMNCAH and NCD agendas to protect and sustain the momentum needed to address women and girls’ needs through the life cycle.
What are non-communicable diseases in women?
Noncommunicable diseases in women are a large category of chronic illnesses that are not communicable. This means you can’t get them from someone else. They are described as long-term diseases, generally slow development, and are the key cause of adult mortality and morbidity worldwide. That identifies noncommunicable diseases as “Group II Diseases,” a category that aggregates the following conditions/causes of death:
- Malignant neoplasms
- Other neoplasms
- Diabetes mellitus
- Neurological diseases
- Neuropsychiatric illnesses
- Sensory organ diseases
- Cardiovascular diseases
- Respiratory diseases
- Digestive diseases
- Genitourinary diseases
- Skin diseases
- Musculoskeletal diseases
- Congenital abnormalities
- Dental problems
These are distinct from Group I diseases (communicable, maternal, perinatal, and nutritional conditions) and Group III Illness (unintentional and intentional injuries).
Four major diseases are commonly considered dominant in Noncommunicable disease in women. They are:
- Cancer
- Cardiovascular Disease
- Chronic Respiratory Disease
- Diabetes
In addition to these 4 main diseases, mental illnesses are major contributors to economic damages arising from Noncommunicable diseases in women. Vigo et al. describe the 5 types of mental illness:
- Major depressive disorder
- Anxiety disorders
- Schizophrenia
- Dysthymia
- Bipolar disorder
It says that these appeared in the top 20 causes of global disease burden (GBD) in 2013. It also argued that people underestimate the global burden of mental illness due to the following 5 issues:
- Limitation of psychiatric and neurological diseases
- Grouping of suicides and behaviors associated with self-injury as a distinct category outside the boundary of mental illness
- Conflict in all chronic pain syndromes for musculoskeletal disorders
- Calculation of the burden of personality disorders in mental disease
- Inadequate consideration of the contribution of severe mental disease to mortality due to associated causes
NCD Risk Factors
Common risk factors link these disease groups:
- Health Social Determinants (this is the environment in which we are born, live, and grow, and the opportunities we are given in those environments)
- Tobacco
- Alcohol
- Poor nutrients
- Physical inaction
Non-modifiable risk Factors refer to traits that cannot be changed by a person (or the environment), including age, sex, and genetic makeup. Although they cannot be the primary goals of the interventions, they remain important factors as they affect and partly determine the effectiveness of many prevention and treatment approaches. Especially, in part, it determines the effectiveness of many prevention and treatment methods.
Modifiable risk factors refer to features that can be modified by societies or persons to maximize health outcomes. Four major NCDs are generally referred to by WHO: poor diet, physical inactivity, use of cigarettes, and unsafe alcohol use.
The 2010 Global Status Study on Noncommunicable Diseases in women reports that almost 80% of deaths in noncommunicable diseases in women occur in low and middle-income countries. To a large extent, NCDs are caused by four environmental risk factors:
- Smoking
- Unhealthful diet
- Lack of physical exercise
- Unhealthy alcohol consumption
The largest impact of these risk factors is increasingly being felt in low and middle-income countries and poorer people in all countries. In these populations, a vicious loop may ensue:
- First, poverty exposes people to risk factors for Noncommunicable diseases in women.
- The resultant Noncommunicable diseases may become an important cause of the downward spiral that leads families to poverty.
Efforts to Combat NCDs
The United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have called for a 25% reduction in Noncommunicable disease mortality by 2025, with the slogan ’25 by 25.’ Hunter, in his article summarizing Noncommunicable diseases in women, claims that the following treatments can help us to accomplish this goal:
- Disease Burden
- Economic Effects
- Prevalence of Risk Factors
- Infectious diseases, malnutrition, and other poverty diseases that lead to Noncommunicable diseases in women
The 2014 Global Status Report on Noncommunicable disease in women is the second in a triennial sequence. It tracks global development in preventing and managing Noncommunicable diseases. The most significant message of the second global NCD study is that today’s global community has a chance to change the course of the NCD epidemic.
Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs 2013-2020
- Premature morality form NCDs 25% reduction
- Essential NCD medicines and technologies 80% coverage
- Diabetes/obesity 0% increase
- Drug therapy and counseling 50% coverage
- Raised blood pressure 25% reduction
- Tobacco use 30% reduction
- Salt/sodium intake 30% reduction
- Physical inactivity 10% reduction
- Harmful use of alcohol 10% reduction
The 2013-2020 Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Management of NCDs lays out a road map. It also lays a range of policy options for all Member States and other stakeholders to coordinate and coherent action at all levels, locally and internationally. Its goal is to achieve nine voluntary global goals, including a 25 percent relative reduction in premature mortality due to cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, or chronic respiratory diseases by 2025. This Action Plan’s major focus is on the 4 main NCDs:
- Cardiovascular disease
- Stroke
- Chronic Respiratory disease
- Diabetes
And the four shared risk factors:
- Tobacco Use
- Unhealthy Diet
- Physical Inactivity
- Harmful Alcohol Use
The Bottom Line
We also desperately need a better understanding of women’s health across life, far beyond reproductive years. Research to understand the impact of sex and gender on health and the factors that influence women and men’s health trends must be prioritized. An easy step for this will be to ensure that data are regularly collected and analyzed separately for women.
Let us be clear: we’re racing the clock on this global health emergency. As Dr Mahmoud F. Fathalla has also said, “Women are not dying of diseases we can’t treat. They are dying because societies have yet to determine that their lives are worth saving.” Our societies need to make a decision and make the decision right now.
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