NCDs in South Asia

Regional Disease Burden and Risk Factors

In South Asia the disease burden is shifting: the burden of NCDs (55 percent including injuries) now more than that of communicable diseases, MCH issues, and nutrition causes combined (46 percent) (Figure 1.3)

Figure 1.3 Burden of disease as a proportion of total forgone DALYs by cause, selected regions, 2004

Source: WHO revised 2004 Global Burden of Disease estimates, http://www.who.int/healthinfo/bodgbd2002revised/en/index.html, accessed July 2009.

This pattern is similar to that of high-income countries decades ago. They are now well advanced into their demographic and epidemiologic transitions, with most of their disease burden due to NCDs which account for 95 percent of forgone DALYs (Box 1.2).

While the proportion of the total burden from NCDs is larger in South Asia than in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the transitions are not as far along, it is smaller than in East Asia and the Pacific. Future estimates of the NCD burden are not currently available. However, the demographic trends noted above suggest that the burden in South Asia will grow significantly.

One implication of having significant burdens of both communicable diseases and NCDs is that for individuals with both (e.g., tuberculosis and diabetes) their clinical courses and treatment can be more complicated than having either alone.