MEXICO 2015
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BACKGROUND
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the main cause of death in the Americas and caused approximately 3.9 million annual deaths. In 2005, an estimated 250 million people were living with NCDs, mainly cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, obesity and diabetes. These increasingly affect low- and middle-income populations. An estimated 139 million persons 16 and older (25%) were obese (body mass index >30), including 103 million women. This number is expected to increase by 2015, reaching an estimated 289 million (39%), including 164 million women. This problem is not just limited to those 16 and older; childhood obesity is a matter of widespread and growing concern due to its continuous increase. The 2008-2017 Health Agenda for the Americas calls for collective action at the national and international levels to prioritize the prevention and control of NCDs, which have become the main cause of morbidity and mortality in the region. Among these actions is the integration of models of care that include health promotion and disease prevention interventions with family and community approaches into the health systems, which can help alleviate the burden of non-communicable diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) action plan for non-communicable diseases has identified four common risk factors for action, namely: tobacco use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and harmful use of alcohol. In addition, the recent 152nd Session of the Executive Committee of the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) called for improving the quality of health services through the implementation of a model of integrated management for non- communicable diseases that includes, among other components, self-management and community support. |
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