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Major diseases not only have a major impact on individuals and their quality of life in general, but also on public health costs and the countries’ economies. Economists disagree about the best way to calculate these sums, but all come to the conclusion that a substantial part of the National Income of China could be put to better use and significant expenses saved if diseases could be reduced through health prevention measures.
The world-wide economic costs of the SARS outbreak of 2003 are estimated to range from US$10 billion to US$30 billion from direct costs of fighting the disease, but also from lost production, reduced income from tourism, delayed investments and so on.
2.6 million people die from cardiovascular diseases and strokes each year. This means that every 12 seconds somebody in China is killed by them, again leading not only to grief but also to enormous costs for the hospital sector and for many lost experts and their know-how.
The health care costs attributable to cigarette smoking alone are estimated at more than 3 billion US$.
Undernutrition used to be a major source of health problems. However, China has been quite successful in fighting poverty and undernutrition. But as the country’s diet is shifting towards higher fat and lower carbohydrate content through high intakes of foods from animal sources and edible oils in China, the proportion of overweight persons is increasing very rapidly among both adults and children. In 1995 approximately 16 billion US$ or 2% of China’s GDP at that time were estimated to be spend on diet-related chronic diseases, most stemming from undernutrition during childhood.
International experts foresee however a rapid increase in the costs and prevalence of diet-related no communicable diseases in the coming years with for instance the number of diabetes sufferers doubling from 30 million in 2000 to almost 60 million people in 2025. So overnutrition will put a bigger burden on the economy than undernutrition used to, if no health prevention measures towards the promotion of a healther diet are taken.
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Cardiovascular diseases and Cancer bring death to their victims and tragedy to their families. They also have a significant negative impact on the economy, not only through the healthcare costs involved, but since the victims are often still in their prime, resulting in a loss of expertise and know-how.
Cardiovascular diseases
Description: There are many diseases that affect the heart and arteries but four are particularly prevalent. Myocardial infarction (destruction of heart cells) is linked to damage to the coronary arteries (which provide blood to the heart) in 90% of cases. Strokes occur as a result of impaired blood flow to the brain linked to a hemorrhage or a blockage of the arteries that supply blood to the brain. Heart failure (impaired cardiac function) is mainly linked to various changes in cardiovascular tissues, most often the result of ageing. Hypertension (high blood pressure) is defined as the sustained elevation of arterial blood pressure in comparison to what is considered to be the “normal” value (140/90 millimeters of mercury). There is a wide range of long-term consequences: heart failure, stroke, kidney failure, etc.
Impact on public health:
Cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death in industrialized countries. In 2002, they affected 147 million people throughout the world in 2002 and resulted in over 16 million deaths. Among them, coronary pathologies alone (angina, myocardial infarction) affected 58 million people and killed seven million, whereas 49 million people were victims of strokes, which were fatal for 5.5 million of them. Cardiovascular diseases not only have a major impact on individuals and their quality of life in general, but also on public health costs and the countries’ economies. Risk factors for these pathologies include diabetes, smoking, family history, obesity, high cholesterol, etc.
Title: Cancer
Description: Cancer (a malignant tumor) is characterized by the presence of cancerous cells, so-called immortal cells with the ability to multiply indefinitely. The surrounding cells and the rest of the body cannot control the proliferation of cancerous cells, which are able to spread to other tissues and even to sites that are remote from the primary tumor (metastases).
Impact on public health:
Each year 10 million new cases of cancer are diagnosed worldwide. Cancer is responsible for 6 million deaths and is the second leading cause of death in industrialized countries (the first being cardiovascular diseases). The earlier a cancer is detected, the better the chances of treating it successfully.
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