September 2011-United Nations and Non-communicable Diseases

One of the most important problems in the current situation of the world is to deal with the consequences of diseases. Human beings have always been involved with the burdens, morbidity, mortality and disabilities due to contagious and non-communicable diseases. Infectious diseases slaughtered people for centuries. However, the majority of them were out powered by the human knowledge. Although we still face burdens imposed by infectious diseases, their share in disease related expenses, morbidity, mortality and disabilities is relatively small compared to non-communicable diseases. By successful relative control of infectious diseases, the role of non-communicable diseases became more clear. Non-communicable diseases cannot be managed by the efforts of health related authorities alone in the world. A great cooperation between political, social, cultural and judiciary system is required to overcome this obstacle. The United Nations is well aware of the importance of this global cooperation and made a decision in this regard which is greatly appreciated. Continuous efforts have resulted in an important action by the UN as this organization called for a meeting to be held on 20-22 September 2011 with the participation of head of states on the theme of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The four major NCDs include cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, cancers, and diabetes. The summit aims at reaching a consensus in adopting a global strategy to fight NCDs. The previous session in 2001 focused on HIV/AIDS. Now, after 10 years, the role of NCDs in the community health has been highlighted and considering the millennium development goals (MDG), NCDs will be the subject of discussion in this upcoming summit. World leaders will attend this meeting to explain the situation of their country in terms of NCDs and report their taken actions to confront this situation at national and international levels in order to find one international single strategy to control such diseases. Disease prevention and controlling the risk factors in the community can drastically reduce disease related burdens. Health authorities, medical institution, researchers, and non-governmental organizations should put all their efforts on highlighting the risk factors. They have the responsibility to inform political figures and world leaders about the risks and burdens of NCDs, discuss how to confront such conditions and convince them to cooperate with other countries' leaders. Obesity, physical inactivity, unhealthy nutrition, and smoking are the major common risk factors for all NCDs. The recent published data revealed the effect of BMI, serum total …