Developing Symptoms
Foreign Affairs - Noncommunicable Diseases Go Global
When most people in developed countries think of the biggest health challenges confronting the developing world, they envision a small boy in a rural, dusty village beset by an exotic parasite or bacterial blight. But increasingly, that image is wrong. Instead, it is the working-age woman living in an urban slum, suffering from diabetes, cervical cancer, or stroke — noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) that once confronted wealthy nations alone.
NCDs in developing countries are occurring more rapidly, arising in younger people, and leading to far worse health outcomes than ever seen in developed countries. This epidemic results from persistent poverty, unprecedented urbanization, and freer trade in emerging-market nations, which have not yet established the health and regulatory systems needed to treat and prevent NCDs. According to the World Economic Forum’s 2010 Global Risks report, these diseases pose a greater threat to global economic development than fiscal crises, natural disasters, corruption, or infectious disease.
Obesity is certainly a major problem in Costa Rica, where I live.
It is a major problem for me, personally. It should be considered a mental health disease, with the stress of contemporary living as one of its primary causes. The National Institutes of Health estimates that 75-90% of all visits to primary care physicians are stress related.
To cope with this stress, we would have to be much more aware of our world and its stressors. Something we prefer to overlook.
Hal, I had not realized the scope or the seriousness of these NCDs in third world sitautions. When I read your caption, I expected more things related to hunger and poverty–although I realize those are related here too. I have thought for some time that urbanization is not an unmixed blessing. So many now who grow up and live in urbanized settings have such lettle feel for or totally false impressions of nature and its role in their lives. In the US, the different view points of the urban vs rural areas makes a stark political difference that is increasing over time.