UN targets top killers

摘要

When heads of state and health ministers gather in New York next week for the first United Nations (UN) high-level summit on non-communicable disease (NCD), they will be presented with some jaw-dropping statistics. According to UN reports released before the meeting, NCDs such as cardiovascular disease and cancer killed 36 million people in 2008, accounting for 63% of all deaths. Although NCDs are often mistakenly thought of as diseases of affluence, more than 80% of the NCD deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries (see 'Total deaths'). By 2030, says the UN, the global annual toll of NCD will rise to 52 million deaths.