580929 research-article2015
RSH0010.1177/1757913915580929Current topics & opinionsCurrent topics & opinions
Current topic & opinion
Prevention is better than cure: tackling non-communicable diseases in developing countries by focusing on prevention related to ill health as a factor that contributes to heart disease3 – lack of exercise can be considered as serious as smoking. In developing countries, we need to make people aware of the health consequences of inactivity and start to encourage exercise. By creating a society where physical NCDs, we help to promote sustainable activity is a vital component of daily development. lives, we can reduce the prevalence of Financing healthcare in developing some NCDs. countries is an issue of much debate. Unhealthy diets composed of With the prevalence of NCDs rising processed food, high in sugar, salts and globally and with these diseases fats, are harmful to our health. An expecting to take a great proportion of unhealthy diet is a cause of obesity, healthcare budgets, ways must be which is now a major public health sought to decrease the burden of these concern. It is documented that good diet diseases. Interventions that require less is essential to prevent these diseases. spending but have been proven to be Tobacco use is the single most cost effective must be sought and preventable cause of death,4 causing one employed in order to decrease the in six NCDs. It is a risk factor for six out of burden of these diseases, improve the the world’s eight leading causes of death quality of life in these countries and also and causes nearly six million deaths per to promote sustainable development. year.5 Tobacco use hinders development It is well documented that lack of and worsens poverty, yet tobacco use is exercise, improper diet, tobacco and increasing in many developing countries. alcohol use are all major risk factors for 1 If we can make people be aware of the NCDs. If we can work on promoting dangers of smoking and focus on health and focus on prevention by creating societies that discourage targeting these risk factors, then a great smoking, then the burden of NCDs will part of the fight against NCDs will be significantly decrease. won. The burden of long-term treatment Alcohol is causally linked (to and care will be varying degrees) to eight decreased drastically, Alcohol is different cancers, with the risk and so developing causally linked increasing with the volume countries will not have (to varying 6 Similarly, alcohol consumed. to worry about degrees) to use is detrimentally related to spending huge sums eight different many cardiovascular of money on advanced cancers, with outcomes, including long-term care for the risk these diseases. increasing with hypertension, haemorrhagic stroke and atrial fibrillation. There is strong the volume Alcohol is furthermore linked evidence that consumed to various forms of liver physical inactivity is
Dr Rosmond Adams, National Epidemiologist and former Focal Point for Non-communicable Diseases for the Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment in Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, takes us through how eating healthier food, doing regular physical exercise and saying no to alcohol and tobacco can reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in developing countries.
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of mortality and morbidity globally.1 Developing countries are not spared from this public health dilemma. Tackling the rising scourge of NCDs in developing countries is not just a public health issue but it is also a developmental issue that requires urgent public health actions, interventions and an all of society approach. Diseases such as diabetes mellitus are expected to rise to a significantly high prevalence. The World Health Organization estimates that the number of people with diabetes worldwide will be at least 300 million by 2025.2 This drastic increase will definitely put a burden on the public health system of these countries that are already struggling to finance healthcare. Sustainable development is therefore hindered if we do not address this rising scourge of NCDs in these countries. By promoting sustainable development, we help to prevent NCDs, and by preventing
Copyright © Royal Society for Public Health 2015 May 2015 Vol 135 No 3 l Perspectives in Public Health 121 SAGE Publications Downloaded from rsh.sagepub.com at Purdue University on June 5, 2016 ISSN 1757-9139 DOI: 10.1177/1757913915580929
Current topic & opinion disease (particularly with fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis) and pancreatitis. By reducing the abuse of alcohol, the impact on NCDs will also decrease, so public health interventions must focus on highlighting the dangerous effect of alcohol and
encourage people to stop abusing the consumption of alcohol. An important way to reduce NCDs is to focus on lessening the risk factors associated with these diseases. Lowcost solutions exist to reduce the common modifiable risk factors (mainly
tobacco use, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity and the harmful use of alcohol). By focusing on these preventative measures and by promoting health, the prevalence of NCDs will be reduced and so will the financial burden of these diseases on the health sector.
References 1.
2.
World Health Organization (WHO). Global Status Report on Non-Communicable Diseases. Geneva: WHO, 2011. Available online at: http://www.who.int/nmh/ publications/ncd_report_full_en.pdf (Last accessed 10th August 2014). World Health Organization (WHO). Diabetes: The Cost of Diabetes (Fact sheet No. 236). Geneva: WHO, 2014. Available online at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/
3.
4.
fs236/en/ (Last accessed 10th August 2014). Morris JN, Heady JA, Raffle PA et al. Coronary heart-disease and physical activity of work. The Lancet 1953; 262(6795): 1053–7. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Tobacco Use: Targeting the Nation’s Leading Killer at a Glance 2011. Available online at: http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/ resources/publications/aag/osh.htm (Last accessed 10th August 2014).
5.
6.
World Health Organization (WHO). Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI). Tobacco Facts. Available online at: http://www.who.int/tobacco/ mpower/tobacco_facts/en/ (Last accessed 10th August 2014). Parry CD, Patra J, Rehm J. Alcohol consumption and non-communicable diseases: Epidemiology and policy implications. Addiction 2011; 106(10): 1718–24.
The Knee High Design Challenge: taking a different approach to early years Ella Britton from Design Council and Edward Gardiner from Warwick Business School discuss how Knee High Design Challenge is taking a different approach to reveal new ways of helping everyone take control of their lives.
Investing in the early years isn’t just about saving money in the long term, it is about responding meaningfully to what different families really want and need. Over the last two years, we have been running the Knee High Design Challenge, an openinnovation programme to reduce health inequalities in the London boroughs of Southwark and Lambeth, in partnership with Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity.
The programme brought together a diverse range of thinkers, makers and doers to create ventures that would improve the health and wellbeing of children under five in different ways. We supported 25 teams of people to develop their ideas, from redesigning the maternity experience for dads, to a musical about post-natal depression, and making underused outdoor spaces more playable for under-fives. Our approach challenged traditional public health improvement programmes. We started by looking at the problems from the reality of people’s lives, spending time with families and early year’s practitioners to better understand the constraints and what needed to change. By consolidating the findings together, the result was three design briefs that identified tangible opportunities to make a difference and acted as provocations to
122 Perspectives in Public Health l May 2015 Vol 135 No 3 Downloaded from rsh.sagepub.com at Purdue University on June 5, 2016
stimulate new ideas. The headline questions were as follows: •• What would connect more families to people and places beyond the boundaries of their home? •• What would make it possible for more young children to learn and develop in their everyday lives? •• What would alleviate the stress, anxiety and depression experienced by parents during the ups and downs of everyday life? We sought to make the Knee High Design Challenge as open as possible and encouraged people from all backgrounds to apply and respond to the briefs, from national charities to parents with a direct understanding of a problem. This was supported by a physical presence in the area, with market stalls, library sessions and the Knee High play space, a shop in Southwark where people could learn more about the programme and get involved in the activities. The competition
RSH0010.1177/1757913915580929Current topics & opinionsCurrent topics & opinions
Current topic & opinion
Prevention is better than cure: tackling non-communicable diseases in developing countries by focusing on prevention related to ill health as a factor that contributes to heart disease3 – lack of exercise can be considered as serious as smoking. In developing countries, we need to make people aware of the health consequences of inactivity and start to encourage exercise. By creating a society where physical NCDs, we help to promote sustainable activity is a vital component of daily development. lives, we can reduce the prevalence of Financing healthcare in developing some NCDs. countries is an issue of much debate. Unhealthy diets composed of With the prevalence of NCDs rising processed food, high in sugar, salts and globally and with these diseases fats, are harmful to our health. An expecting to take a great proportion of unhealthy diet is a cause of obesity, healthcare budgets, ways must be which is now a major public health sought to decrease the burden of these concern. It is documented that good diet diseases. Interventions that require less is essential to prevent these diseases. spending but have been proven to be Tobacco use is the single most cost effective must be sought and preventable cause of death,4 causing one employed in order to decrease the in six NCDs. It is a risk factor for six out of burden of these diseases, improve the the world’s eight leading causes of death quality of life in these countries and also and causes nearly six million deaths per to promote sustainable development. year.5 Tobacco use hinders development It is well documented that lack of and worsens poverty, yet tobacco use is exercise, improper diet, tobacco and increasing in many developing countries. alcohol use are all major risk factors for 1 If we can make people be aware of the NCDs. If we can work on promoting dangers of smoking and focus on health and focus on prevention by creating societies that discourage targeting these risk factors, then a great smoking, then the burden of NCDs will part of the fight against NCDs will be significantly decrease. won. The burden of long-term treatment Alcohol is causally linked (to and care will be varying degrees) to eight decreased drastically, Alcohol is different cancers, with the risk and so developing causally linked increasing with the volume countries will not have (to varying 6 Similarly, alcohol consumed. to worry about degrees) to use is detrimentally related to spending huge sums eight different many cardiovascular of money on advanced cancers, with outcomes, including long-term care for the risk these diseases. increasing with hypertension, haemorrhagic stroke and atrial fibrillation. There is strong the volume Alcohol is furthermore linked evidence that consumed to various forms of liver physical inactivity is
Dr Rosmond Adams, National Epidemiologist and former Focal Point for Non-communicable Diseases for the Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment in Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, takes us through how eating healthier food, doing regular physical exercise and saying no to alcohol and tobacco can reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in developing countries.
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of mortality and morbidity globally.1 Developing countries are not spared from this public health dilemma. Tackling the rising scourge of NCDs in developing countries is not just a public health issue but it is also a developmental issue that requires urgent public health actions, interventions and an all of society approach. Diseases such as diabetes mellitus are expected to rise to a significantly high prevalence. The World Health Organization estimates that the number of people with diabetes worldwide will be at least 300 million by 2025.2 This drastic increase will definitely put a burden on the public health system of these countries that are already struggling to finance healthcare. Sustainable development is therefore hindered if we do not address this rising scourge of NCDs in these countries. By promoting sustainable development, we help to prevent NCDs, and by preventing
Copyright © Royal Society for Public Health 2015 May 2015 Vol 135 No 3 l Perspectives in Public Health 121 SAGE Publications Downloaded from rsh.sagepub.com at Purdue University on June 5, 2016 ISSN 1757-9139 DOI: 10.1177/1757913915580929
Current topic & opinion disease (particularly with fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis) and pancreatitis. By reducing the abuse of alcohol, the impact on NCDs will also decrease, so public health interventions must focus on highlighting the dangerous effect of alcohol and
encourage people to stop abusing the consumption of alcohol. An important way to reduce NCDs is to focus on lessening the risk factors associated with these diseases. Lowcost solutions exist to reduce the common modifiable risk factors (mainly
tobacco use, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity and the harmful use of alcohol). By focusing on these preventative measures and by promoting health, the prevalence of NCDs will be reduced and so will the financial burden of these diseases on the health sector.
References 1.
2.
World Health Organization (WHO). Global Status Report on Non-Communicable Diseases. Geneva: WHO, 2011. Available online at: http://www.who.int/nmh/ publications/ncd_report_full_en.pdf (Last accessed 10th August 2014). World Health Organization (WHO). Diabetes: The Cost of Diabetes (Fact sheet No. 236). Geneva: WHO, 2014. Available online at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/
3.
4.
fs236/en/ (Last accessed 10th August 2014). Morris JN, Heady JA, Raffle PA et al. Coronary heart-disease and physical activity of work. The Lancet 1953; 262(6795): 1053–7. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Tobacco Use: Targeting the Nation’s Leading Killer at a Glance 2011. Available online at: http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/ resources/publications/aag/osh.htm (Last accessed 10th August 2014).
5.
6.
World Health Organization (WHO). Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI). Tobacco Facts. Available online at: http://www.who.int/tobacco/ mpower/tobacco_facts/en/ (Last accessed 10th August 2014). Parry CD, Patra J, Rehm J. Alcohol consumption and non-communicable diseases: Epidemiology and policy implications. Addiction 2011; 106(10): 1718–24.
The Knee High Design Challenge: taking a different approach to early years Ella Britton from Design Council and Edward Gardiner from Warwick Business School discuss how Knee High Design Challenge is taking a different approach to reveal new ways of helping everyone take control of their lives.
Investing in the early years isn’t just about saving money in the long term, it is about responding meaningfully to what different families really want and need. Over the last two years, we have been running the Knee High Design Challenge, an openinnovation programme to reduce health inequalities in the London boroughs of Southwark and Lambeth, in partnership with Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity.
The programme brought together a diverse range of thinkers, makers and doers to create ventures that would improve the health and wellbeing of children under five in different ways. We supported 25 teams of people to develop their ideas, from redesigning the maternity experience for dads, to a musical about post-natal depression, and making underused outdoor spaces more playable for under-fives. Our approach challenged traditional public health improvement programmes. We started by looking at the problems from the reality of people’s lives, spending time with families and early year’s practitioners to better understand the constraints and what needed to change. By consolidating the findings together, the result was three design briefs that identified tangible opportunities to make a difference and acted as provocations to
122 Perspectives in Public Health l May 2015 Vol 135 No 3 Downloaded from rsh.sagepub.com at Purdue University on June 5, 2016
stimulate new ideas. The headline questions were as follows: •• What would connect more families to people and places beyond the boundaries of their home? •• What would make it possible for more young children to learn and develop in their everyday lives? •• What would alleviate the stress, anxiety and depression experienced by parents during the ups and downs of everyday life? We sought to make the Knee High Design Challenge as open as possible and encouraged people from all backgrounds to apply and respond to the briefs, from national charities to parents with a direct understanding of a problem. This was supported by a physical presence in the area, with market stalls, library sessions and the Knee High play space, a shop in Southwark where people could learn more about the programme and get involved in the activities. The competition
