Non-Communicable Diseases, and its Impact

A large percentage of humans are concerned about diseases that can be spread through contact, but, diseases that are noncommunicable are even the most deadly type of diseases that exists.
Noncommunicable diseases(NCD) are extremely chronic, they tend to exist in the human body for a long duration and eventually turn out to be disastrous. NCDs are a combination of genetic, physical, environmental as well as behavioral combinations.

NCDs mostly affect people who belong to the low and middle-income earners categories, in these regions, there is a recorded high death rate, about 31.4 million cases of death resulting from NCD, which is a lot. Asides from the fact that NCD affects mostly low-income earners, it also affects other people from different walks of life, it affects people regardless of age group, country, and region. However, people who belong to the higher age group, are actually at a higher risk of getting infected.
Over 15 million deaths linked with NCDs happen to people within the range of 30 and 69.

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Non-communicable diseases come in different forms, there are some of these forms of non-communicable diseases that are actually really common; Diabetes, Injuries, cardiovascular diseases, 😒preventable cancers, and Chronic respiratory diseases. Each of these mentioned diseases is not communicable, it can never be contacted through physical contents or sharing of utensils, but it is definitely dangerous and it causes a high death rate amongst humans.

Some of the common causes of NCD are caused by intensified risk factors.

Behavioural risk factors.

The use of hard drugs could result in a case of mental illness, staying stagnant at a point for a very long time without any form of physical activity, unhealthy diet, and alcohol abuse are very strong contributive factors to the risk of developing MCD.

Research has shown that more than 7 million cases of deaths that happen every year have a contributive factor of tobacco intake linked with them.

Excessive salt/sodium intake has contributed to more than 4.1 million death according to research on a yearly basis.

3.3 million annual death occurs as a result of alcohol abuse, and more than half of these death cases are from those with NCD.

The absence of physical activity has contributed to the death of more than 1.6 million people.

Overweight Obesity and increased blood pressure are also not left out of the risk factors.

With the rising case of poverty amongst low-income earners, reasons to get medical checkups have gone into extinction, and the ability to get access to good health care facilities are also not there, these people stand a greater chance of getting really sick and dying as a result of that.

In a setting like this, the care for NCD drains the little household resources available, which will result in more cases of extreme poverty and slow development.

Taking an in-depth look at some of the cases of NCD would be needed here, in order to get an in-depth view of the topic.

Diabetes: Diabetes comes in different forms and categories, but eventually, the major cause of all of them is associated with excessive glucose in the bloodstream. Diabetes in the body implies that the body is unable to appropriately process the glucose consumed through consumed food. The processing of sugar in the body is normally supposed to go into the cell and the body, in turn, uses it for energy, but with diabetes in the picture, there is an extra build-up of sugar in the bloodstream.

When diabetes isn't properly controlled, it causes serious damage to various tissues and organs of the body including the kidneys, hearts, eyes, and even the nerves also.

Some categories of diabetes can be prevented by choosing a healthy lifestyle, categories of diabetes;

Type 1 diabetes: When someone has type 1 diabetes, it means the body attacks itself. The insulin-producing cell, found in the pancreas are destroyed in this case. Type 1 diabetes is often noticed more in children and young adults, but this is not to say the condition cannot happen at any age. Those with type 1 diabetes, have to regularly take insulin, it is for this reason that, it is regarded as insulin-dependent diabetes.
Prediabetes: This is a stage before the main diabetes stage,, in this situation, the blood glucose levels are really high but not high enough to be diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes: Type 2 diabetes, is the most common type of diabetes that exists, for this category of diabetes, it is either the body refuses to make sufficient insulin or the body fails to respond to insulin. It is common amongst middle-aged and older people.
Gestational diabetes: Some women experience type 2 diabetes during their period of pregnancy, gestational diabetes goes away after pregnancy, but there is a great possibility of having Type Diabetes later on after pregnancy.

There are other less common types of diabetes; Monogenic diabetes syndromes, Cystic fibrosis-related diabetes, and Drug or chemical-induced diabetes as well.

Diabetes is classified under NCD because it is certainly a non-communicable, possible cause of Diabetes;
Family history, overweight/obesity, physical inactivity, age factor(people older than 45), history of stroke or heart disease, family history, presence of antibodies, stress, and exposure to illness, amongst others.

Symptoms of diabetes include; Increased thirst, blurred vision, frequent urination, slow healing of cuts, sudden weight loss, a feeling of dry mouth, and frequent occurrence of infection.
Some women may develop itchy and dry skin as well as urinary tract infections or yeast infections, for the male gender, there is a noticed decreased sex drive, decreased muscle strength, and erectile dysfunction.

Complications of diabetes could result in; cardiovascular issues, nerve damage, kidney damage, foot damage, eye damage, depression, dementia, hearing difficulty, skin infection, and even erectile dysfunction. With all the possible complications associated with diabetes, it still remains a non-communicable disease.

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** Cardiovascular diseases**: This is a group of life-threatening disorders, majorly disorders of the heart and blood vessels, they also belong to the non-communicable category of diseases.

Cerebrovascular disease: This disease affects the blood vessel supplying the brain.
Coronary heart disease: This disease affects the blood vessels supplying the heart muscle.
Rheumatic heart disease: This disease creates damage to the heart muscle and heart valves.
Peripheral arterial disease: This disease affects the blood vessels that supply the arms and the legs.
Congenital heart disease: This is a birth defect affecting the normal growth and functioning of the heart, this is mainly caused by the malformations of the heart structure right from birth

Unhealthy diet, stroke, use of tobacco, extreme intake of alcohol, and absence of physical activities are usually the causative factors for cardiovascular diseases.

** Mental disorder** Mental disorders involves different categories of mental health situation, these disorders affect the behavioral pattern, thoughts, and mood.

Mental health situations are accompanied by some or all of these symptoms;

Withdrawal from family and friends.
Constantly feeling down or sad.
Confused thinking or inability to concentrate.
Inability to handle daily stress or issues.
Change in sex drive.
Extreme feeling of anger, leading to violence.
Change in eating habits.
Excessive feelings of fear and worry.
Detachment from reality.
Suicidal thoughts.

As deadly as mental health illnesses are, they remain under the category of non-communicable diseases, we should not only be scared of communicable diseases but also of non-communicable diseases as well, that may be highly dangerous to the health.

Can NCD be prevented?

The only possible way to reduce the wide spread of NCD is to actually reduce the risk factor associated with the disease.

For a society filled with low-income earners, creating a better society with working facilities would help reduce the recurring cases of NCD amongst low-income earners. With government authorities paying attention to necessary areas like the health sector, financial sector, transportation, agriculture, education and every other important sector, the standard of living would be improved and the rate of NCD will also be reduced in those regions.

Conclusion.

We shouldn't be scared of communicable diseases and ignore the dangers associated with non-communicable diseases. They are real and for some of them, lifestyle changes would help us avoid them.