Health Sector Perspective
The future increase in the disease burden and risk factors will both put a strain on services delivery and stress budgets. Programs and services need to be reoriented toward efficient NCD prevention and control while also tackling the substantial remaining burden from communicable diseases, and MCH and nutrition issues.
In order to efficiently deliver services for NCD, the health system infrastructure will need retooling and human resources will need training and new skills. In addition, health financing suitable for many people requiring ongoing lifelong treatment will be needed. Fetal and childhood undernutrition is a lagging regional problem that is leaving a legacy of NCDs.
It is recognized as a major long term-risk factor in the development of adult chronic diseases including heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and stroke (Barker 1992; Barker and Clark 1997). All countries in South Asia, including those with more favorable health indicators, are struggling with undernutrition.
In addition, many among the current adult population were exposed to undernutrition when they were young, creating a large pool of those at elevated risk. The legacy of this risk factor will be generational and closely linked with social-determinant risk factors noted already. This reinforces the need for continuing efforts to address this risk factor, which will fall on the health sector.
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