The exploding NCD crisis

It may have been an unsettling disclosure to many that Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) are accounting for some 65 percent of local deaths annually. Even more alarming may have been the news that around 90 percent of our schoolchildren are vulnerable to NCDs, mainly as a result of lacking sufficient physical exercise.

NCDs are, therefore, a surreptitious and relentlessly growing health crisis which is yet to be taken seriously, we daresay. The writing has been on the wall with regard to this silently growing health scourge for quite some time but the public, it seems, is yet to take drastic remedial measures to halt its destructive thrust. Heart disease and hypertension, for instance, are on the ascendant but one cannot yet speak of a mass awareness of these health blights and of collective efforts by the public to do something substantive about stalling their growth in Sri Lanka.

Authorities on the subject are of the view that today, almost one in every four persons falls prey to cancer and the same goes for hypertension and heart disease. Needless to say, these are proliferating NCDs and they have their roots in mainly inimical lifestyles of the public.

Accordingly, the majority of NCDs, such as, heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and even depression, could be remedied and contained, provided the necessary precautions against them are taken by the public. Therefore, it is a question of the people doing what is needed for their health and happiness.

To be sure, more and more people are making the necessary lifestyle changes to ward off some of these health issues by engaging in moderate physical activity, such as walking and jogging, but these precautionary health measures need to catch on and prove to have a mass following, if one is to say that a collective effort is being made to diminish these near epidemics of ill-health. Sri Lanka, unfortunately, is nowhere near these standards.

What is also acutely worrisome is the rising trend among the local young to be affected badly by these NCDs. Today, quite a few Lankan children are afflicted with wasting ailments, such as, diabetes and heart disease, which at one time were considered to be confined to the middle aged and elderly.

The heart-rending nature of these ailments among the young of the land is accentuated by the fact that the majority of these budding lives, currently, hardly have the time to even play and exercise their physiques. It was until recently taken for granted that childhood was synonymous with innocent fun and playtime activity, which is physically and emotionally invigorating, but no more. Today, many a young life is blighted by staggering hours of tuition and feverish preparations for academic examinations, which breed lifelong emotional disability and stunting.

Therefore, it would not be an exaggeration to state that, sick generations are likely to be this country's lot in the future, unless measures are adopted to keep ill-health at bay. In the case of sections of our adult population, the indications are that they have no choice but to lead unhealthy and disease-prone lives, on account of the exhausting and mind-numbing struggle to make ends meet and stay alive. While quite a few of our adults may be mindful of their health, very many have no choice but to be in a maddening rat race because of the need to be above want and keep the home fires burning.

On the other hand, our children and youths too are compelled to lead 'high pressure' lives on account of their studies and other sedentary engagements which are proving wasteful and disease-prone.

In short, more and more Lankan lives are running the risk of easily falling prey to serious ill-health and deadly ailments.

A choice, and a very momentous one, needs to be made by most Lankans. They could either carry on with their sedentary and demanding lives which are disease-prone or choose healthy lifestyles which promise wholesomeness and longer lives. If the latter path is chosen, there may be less money in their wallets, because good health requires more physical exercise and leisure but less engagement in money-generating activities. But by choosing wholesome lifestyles, Lankans would be choosing Life, while frenetic searches for increasing wealth and affluence only lead to premature Death.