MANILA, Sept. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- The countries and areas in the Western Pacific Region and international agencies need to scale up their response to the growing threat posed by noncommunicable diseases, a World Health Organization (WHO) report warned on Tuesday.
The report, released by the WHO Western Pacific Regional Bureau in Manila, said noncommunicable diseases, notably heart problems and cancer, already account for seven out of every 10 deaths in the Western Pacific Region, and the situation could worsen in countries and areas in economic transition.
Shigeru Omi, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific, had called for the report as part of WHO's Noncommunicable Diseases Prevention and Control Program.
The report was presented to the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific, WHO's governing body in the region, currently meeting in New Caledonia to evaluate WHO's work in the region.
"There appears a real danger of under-resourced health services in many transitional economies being overwhelmed by the demand forchronic illness care," the report said.
"While noncommunicable disease control is a priority for the governments of most countries, this did not translate into resource-allocation decisions as a result of other pressures," it said.
The report briefed WHO's conceptual framework of the current strategy for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseasein China, the Philippines, Samoa, Tonga and Vietnam.
It said there is evidence of a rapid increase in the prevalence of chronic noncommunicable diseases.
In China, for example, surveys in 2002 revealed a 31 percent increase in hypertension involving 160 million people above 18 years of age since 1991, and a 40 percent increase in diabetes in six years since 1996 involving 20 million people.
There has also been a 39 percent increase in overweight people since 1992 involving 200 million people, and a 97 percent increase in obesity involving 60 million people since 1992 in China, said the report.
The report said greater resources are needed to meet the growing challenges posed by noncommunicable diseases in the region,with both increased national investment and WHO technical support and funding being critical for noncommunicable disease control efforts.
The report recommended strengthening WHO's capacity in noncommunicable diseases, including in areas of advocacy, resource mobilization, integration and coordination, national planning and policy development and surveillance.
It also called for expanding WHO's response to noncommunicable diseases in the region, and coordinating and building relationships with donor agencies and other funding bodies. Enditem
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