Tim za socijalno uključivanje i smanjenje siromaštva

Non-communicable diseases, such as cancer and diabetes, kill 38 million people annually, while in 16 million cases death could have been avoided with prevention, indicated the World Health Organization report (WHO) presented on 19 January. WHO notes that investing one to three dollars per capita is enough to combat the consequences of such diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, cancer, lung and respiratory system diseases, and diabetes. The probability of death from one of those four main non-communicable diseases in Serbia in the 30 to 70 age bracket in 2012 was 24.5%, while in Sweden, for example, it was 9.9%.

Early death due to disease can be avoided by applying policies against the consumption of tobacco or alcohol, in favour of physical activities and sports.

WHO particularly calls on medium-income countries to apply such policies, because the mortality for non-communicable diseases is greater than that for communicable diseases. Serbia was classified among upper-medium-income countries in the WHO report.

Source: AFP and EurActiv.rs