Heart disease becomes the biggest cause of Death Now: WHO

Heart disease becomes the leading cause of death at the global level for the last 20 years, however death rates are more alarming than before, warns WHO.

According to WHO, diabetes and dementia also comes under the top 10 causes of death.

The WHO’S 2019 Global Health Estimates, released on Wednesday, said non-communicable diseases comes under the top 10 causes of the death, an increase from 4 of the 10 leading causes of death in 2000.

“ Heart disease took lead cause death at the global level for the last 20 years. However , it is now killing more people than ever before,” the organization said.

It  becomes the cause of 16 percent of total deaths, number of deaths by heart disease increased by more than two million since 2000 to nearly 9 million in 2019.

Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia also comes under the top 10 worldwide death cause, which has the 3rd rank in both America and Europe in 2019. 65% of womens died due to Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia globally.

Between 2000 and 2019 deaths from diabetes has been increased by 70% globally with 80% rise in death of males .According to WHO, in the Eastern Mediterranean the deaths rate have more than doubled from diabetes.

The WHO said that estimates reveals that trends over last 2 decades in mortality and morbidity caused by diseases and injuries, highlights the need for focus on preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases, as well as tackling injuries in all regions of the world, as set out in the UN sustainable Development Goals.

“These new estimates are another reminder that we need to rapidly step up prevention, diagnosis and treatment of non- communicable diseases, Director- General of WHO Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

There’s an high emergency to improve health care equipment. Strong  Primary health is the root on which everything rests are dependent from combating non-communicable diseases to managing a global pandemic.

In 2019, pneumonia and other respiratory infections ranked as fourth leading cause of death.

While HIV/AIDS dropped from 8th to 19th between 2000 and 2019. While its still on number fourth in Africa, the number of deaths has dropped by more than half, falling from 1 million in 2000 to 435,000 in 2019 in Africa.

WHO said TB is also not in the global top 10, falling from 7th place to 13th in 2019, with a 30% reduction in global deaths. Again, its still among the top 10 causes of deaths in Africa and South- East Asian regions, where it is the 8th and 5th leading cause respectively.

Meanwhile, in recent years, the WHO reports highlight an overall slow down or plateauing of progress against infectious diseases like HIV, TB and malaria.

 There are 75% deaths in males due to road traffic globally. Assistant Director- General for the Division of Data, Analytics and   Delivery for Impact at WHO Dr Samira Asma said robust health data are critical to address inequalities, prioritize policies and allocate resources to prevent disability and save lives.

“We call upon governments and stakeholders to urgently invest in data and health information systems to support timely and effective decision-making, Asma said.