NCDs in South Asia(cont...)

Figure 1.5 Proportion of total deaths and forgone DALYs due to NCDs, South Asia, 2004

Source: WHO Global Burden of Disease, 2004 update,
http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/estimates/en/index.html.

Where data are available, the prevalence of NCDs is increasing. In Sri Lanka, where some of the better secular morbidity data are available, successive population-based surveys indicate upward trends in the prevalence of diabetes. The prevalence of diabetes was estimated at round 3–6 percent in adults in the1990s; surveys in 2005 and 2008 reveal a prevalence rate of above 10 percent in adults (Illangasekera et al. 1993; Mendis and Ekanayake 1994; Fernando et al. 1994; Malavige et al. 2002; Illangasekera et al. 2004; Wijewardene 2005; Katulanda et al. 2008).

This regional pattern is characterized by similar country-level NCD risk factor burdens and variable country disease burdens. As said, tobacco use among adults is uniformly high among males (30–50 percent use rate with any form) and is low among women with the exception of Maldives and Nepal (Figure 1.6).

(Lack of data among adults from both Afghanistan and Bhutan highlight the need for better surveillance across the region.) Even more concerning than these profiles among adults are the rates of tobacco use in youth (13–15 years for both boys and girls) ranging from 20 percent in Bhutan to 6 percent in Maldives (Figure 1.7).