Non-Communicable Diseases

According to National Health Portal, Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are medical conditions or diseases that are not caused by infectious agents. These are chronic diseases of long duration, and generally slow progression and are the result of a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental and behaviours factors. India is going through an epidemiologic transition whereby the burden of communicable diseases have declined slowly, but that of non-communicable diseases (NCD) has risen rapidly, thus leading to a dual burden. About one in every two Indians (47%) living with diabetes is unaware of their condition, and only about a quarter (24%) manage to bring it under control, a May 2019 study has found. Diabetes is responsible for every 1 in 20 deaths from all causes and approximately four million annual deaths are because of complications of diabetes i.e. six deaths every minute or one death every 10 seconds. Indians are especially predisposed to diabetes due to social and genetic reasons. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have now become the leading cause of mortality in India; CVDs are estimated to account for 60%of total adult deaths in India. These silent diseases coupled by misinformation (myths and misconceptions) only aid in increasing the risk of the spread of NCDs and worse prove to be fatal, if delayed.