18 August
A MEMBER of parliament submitted a motion in August stating, to quote the Health and Sports Ministry’s reports, that there were 3 million inpatients, 12 million outpatients and 760,000 surgeries performed for kidney, liver transplants and heart surgeries in the past three years.
There has been an annual increase in reported non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiac-related complications and cancer, while communicable diseases have been consistently decreasing.
In Myanmar, the number of deaths from non-communicable diseases has risen from 48 per cent in 2014 to 52 per cent in 2017. The report also states that aortic stenosis is the cause of most deaths, while cancer comes in second.
Globally, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) kill 41 million people each year, equivalent to 71% of all deaths worldwide.
Also, 15 million people between the ages of 30 and 69 years die annually from a NCD; over 85% of these "premature" deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.
Cardiovascular diseases account for most NCD deaths, or 17.9 million people annually, followed by cancers (9.0 million), respiratory diseases (3.9 million), and diabetes (1.6 million).
These 4 groups of diseases account for over 80% of all premature NCD deaths.
Tobacco use, physical inactivity, the harmful use of alcohol and unhealthy diets all increase the risk of dying from a NCD.
Detection, screening and treatment of NCDs, as well as palliative care, are key components in the response to NCDs.
Also, we need to enforce the Tobacco Control Law for the production, sales and import of alcohol, because the diseases caused by alcohol are also reported in great numbers in Myanmar.
Now is the time for all relevant ministries to enforce the existing laws and ensure proper taxation of tobacco and alcohol products, along with other related measures, including properly educating the public to combat the rise of non-communicable diseases.
To lessen the impact of NCDs on individuals and society a comprehensive approach is needed, requiring all sectors, including health, finance, transport, education, agriculture, planning and others, to collaborate to reduce the risks associated with NCDs, and promote interventions to prevent and control them.
It is high time we made comprehensive efforts for addressing NCDs in Myanmar. We must ensure multi-sectoral synergetic efforts, such as developing a strategic action plan on NCDs, strengthening health services for screening, referral and management of NCDs, raising public awareness about healthy lifestyles, encouraging people to participate in more physical activity, promoting healthy foods, and introducing sin taxes on alcohol and tobacco.
Adequate human and financial resources must be ensured for addressing the country’s rapidly expanding NCD health needs.
GNLM
