World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
What are healthy diets? Joint statement by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization
Publication
31 Oct 2024
Hypertension, diabetes, stroke: they kill more people than infectious diseases and should get a Global Fund
Tanzania Diabetes Association, World Diabetes Foundation
13 Dec 2022
Noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular conditions account for 41 million deaths each year. That’s more than 70% of all deaths globally. Most of these deaths (77%) are in low-income and middle-income countries – including those in Africa.
These conditions are currently more prevalent than infectious diseases. Sixty-seven percent occur before the age of 40. Besides being the leading causes of death worldwide, noncommunicable diseases carry a huge cost to individuals. These also undermine workforce productivity and threaten economic prosperity.
Healthcare provision in much of Africa still relies on external donors. There’s insufficient funding to help low-income and middle-income countries control noncommunicable diseases. Most development assistance for health funding provided by international donors is allocated for infectious diseases and maternal and child health. In 2019, funding for HIV amounted to US$9.5 billion. The amount allocated to noncommunicable diseases was US$0.7 billion.
Evidence suggests that addressing the noncommunicable disease pandemic can also mitigate other challenges like HIV, tuberculosis (TB), maternal and child health, and universal health coverage.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria is an international partnership. The fund invests US$4 billion a year to fight these three diseases.
I believe it’s now time to think of establishing a Global Fund for noncommunicable diseases, or expand the mandate of Global Fund beyond AIDS, TB and malaria. The epidemics of these conditions overlap. For example, research has shown that comorbidities such as diabetes and cancers are common in people living with HIV.
