The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development covers 17 goals, the third of which is “good health and well-being”, namely: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being at all ages. (Click here for details)

Under this major goal, there are 13 targets, the fourth of which is “By 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being.”

● Current Situation

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and chronic lung disease, are collectively responsible for almost 70% of all deaths worldwide.

About the World

NCDs are Leading Cause of Death 

According to the resources from WHO in 2013, NCDs are by far the leading cause of death in the world, representing 63% of all annual deaths. NCDs kill more than 36 million people each year. Some 80% of all NCDs deaths occur in low and middle-income countries.

An important way to control NCDs is to focus on reducing the risk factors associated with these diseases. Low-cost solutions exist for governments and other stakeholders to reduce the common modifiable risk factors. Monitoring progress and trends of NCDs and their risk is important for guiding policy and priorities.

Text and photo source: WHO website  

About China

Numbers of NCD Patients and Deaths are Huge

China is in a period of rapid health transformation, facing the dual threat from NCDs and communicable diseases. NCDs accounted for an increasing proportion of total deaths, from 53% between 1973 and 1975 to 86.6% in 2012.

Photo source: sohu.com

The number of NCDs patients and deaths, as well as the medical burden, are huge, which leads to serious loss of labor force in China. The aging population will further enlarge the burden, resulting in the tremendous increase of numbers of patients and deaths.

Text source: chinacdc.cn

●  Cases

About the World

Finnish Government Integrates Health Concept into Policies

Finland encourages its people to eat healthy food, and integrates health concept into all policies, such as taxation and price subsidies. The Finnish government has developed a national and comprehensive system for preventing and controlling NCDs. It has set up a special project evaluation team in North Karelia to monitor its health progress. The government tries to change people's lifestyle and food habits, so as to improve their health situation.

Due to the cold weather, Finnish people's butter intake is very large. The government stipulates that without degrease treatment, milk is not allowed to be sold at markets. The government promotes healthy oil and vegetables. With the change of people’s diets, the incidence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases dropped by 80% compared with 30 years ago. 

Text source: sina.com.cn

About China

Shenzhen Optimizes NDCs Prevention and Control System

Shenzhen is a young city, but due to the widespread risk of NCDs and acceleration of aging process, the NCDs incidence will continue to increase. The situation becomes more and more serious for prevention and control of NCDs.

On September 20, 2019, the Center for Disease Control of Guangming District signed a cooperation agreement with Professor Lü Jiachun and his team from Guangzhou Medical University, as well as Professor Hu Dongsheng and his team from Shenzhen University. Optimizing the NCDs prevention and control system is a major measure to promote the university-industry cooperation in public health service.

Text sources: sznews.com

●  Background

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Initiated by the United Nations

On January 1, 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including 169 targets, of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development — adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at an historic UN Summit — officially came into force. Countries will mobilize efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind.