NCDs not a lifestyle choice, reminds WHO official

MANILA, Philippines — Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are not lifestyle choices, an official of the World Health Organization (WHO) said, emphasizing that contacting the diseases are influenced by many factors.

Olivia Lawe-Davies, Communications Manager of the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office, said that it has been common for people to think that NCDs are lifestyle diseases.

“People still talk and think of NCDs as lifestyle diseases as if it is a lifestyle choice… That’s not a lifestyle choice,” Lawe-Davies said in a media workshop in Cubao, Metro Manila on Wednesday that convened journalists from the Western Pacific Region.

READ: WHO: Premature death risk due to NCDs in PH among highest in region

Lawe-Davies noted that the diseases are not attributed to the sudden change of lifestyle of many people.

READ: WHO: Basic health services lacking in PH, Western Pacific

“We have seen an explosion of NCDs in the recent years. That’s not because everyone as individuals suddenly decided to change their lifestyle. It’s because there are different forces that are pushing them in the direction of their behaviors and factors that are making them sick,” she added.

The communications manager also called on journalists and the WHO to work together to stop calling NCDs as “lifestyle diseases.”

“That will be a huge win… It;s about cutting through the noise. As WHO, we have pretty limited resources, we are very thin on the ground,” Lawe-Davies stated.

According to WHO, the four main types of NCDs are cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases that “impose a major and growing burden on health and development.”

Further, data shown by Xi Yin, Coordinator of the NCD Prevention and Health Promotion of the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office, in the same media workshop, said that ¾ of all deaths in the world are from NCD.

Yin also said that the driving factors of NCDs are the following: modifiable behavioral risk factors, biological factors, social determinants, environmental and structural drivers, climate change, commercial drivers, population ageing.

Meanwhile, a report released by the WHO in October showed that Filipinos had a higher risk of dying from NCDs than other people from the Western Pacific region.

The report also said that NCD deaths among Filipinos rose by almost 10 percent in 2021 with 714 deaths per 100,000 Filipinos, compared to the 651 deaths per 100,000 Filipinos in 2000.