'Lifestyle' diseases kill 16 mn prematurely: WHO
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GENEVA (AFP) - Diseases linked to lifestyle choices, including diabetes and some cancers, kill 16 million people prematurely each year, the World Health Organization said Monday, urging action to stop the "slow-moving public health disaster".
Unhealthy habits like smoking, alcohol abuse and consuming too much fat, salt and sugar have sparked an epidemic of diseases which together constitute the leading cause of death globally, WHO said.
This "lifestyle disease" epidemic "causes a much greater public health threat than any other epidemic known to man," said Shanthi Mendis, the lead author of WHO's Chronic Diseases Prevention and Management report.
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), like cardiovascular conditions, diabetes, lung disease and a range of cancers, killed a full 38 million people around the globe in 2012 -- 16 million of them under the age of 70.
"Not thousands are dying, but millions are dying ... every year in their 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s, not in their 80s and 90s," said Mendis.
"It's beyond belief that it is seemingly invisible," she told reporters ahead of the launch.
Most of the world's 16 million premature NCD deaths each year -- 82 per cent -- occur in poor and middle income countries, and most of them could be averted with just small investments, the report found.
"The global community has the chance to change the course of the NCD epidemic," WHO chief Margaret Chan said in a statement.
Millions of lives could be saved if the world over the next decade invests just $11.2 billion each year, or $1-3 per person, on promoting healthier habits, the report found.
