NCDs Responsible For Majority Of Deaths Worldwide And Cost Trillions, Report Says

Nearly two-thirds of deaths worldwide are caused by non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as heart and lung disease, cancer, and diabetes, which are increasingly prevalent and cost the global economy trillions of dollars, according to a U.N. report and preliminary results from a new study announced Monday at a press conference to preview the September U.N. High Level Meeting on NCDs, the Associated Press/MSNBC.com reports.

A report from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, originally released in May and circulated on Monday, said that “36 million people died from non-communicable diseases in 2008, representing 63 percent of the 57 million global deaths that year. Nearly 80 percent of deaths from these diseases were in the developing world, and 9 million deaths were of men and women under the age of 60, it said,” the news service writes.

David Bloom of the Harvard School of Public Health, who is leading a project examining the global economic burden of NCDs, “said preliminary results indicate that the substantial economic burden caused by these diseases today ‘will evolve into a staggering economic burden over the next two decades’ that could have a huge impact on economic development and fighting poverty,” according to the Associated Press/MSNBC.com (Lederer, 6/20).

“Bloom said treating newly diagnosed cancer cases cost $300 billion globally in 2010” and that the “global decline in productivity due to illness and deaths from non-communicable diseases will reach $35 trillion by 2030 … an amount seven times larger than the current level of global health spending,” Bloomberg writes (Renick, 6/20).

The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.

KFF Headquarters: 185 Berry St., Suite 2000, San Francisco, CA 94107 | Phone 650-854-9400
Washington Offices and Barbara Jordan Conference Center: 1330 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005 | Phone 202-347-5270

www.kff.org | Email Alerts: kff.org/email | facebook.com/KFF | twitter.com/kff

The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news, KFF is a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California.