Patterns of Life & Death
Patterns of
mortality and morbidity are rapidly changing around the globe. We all know we
are going to die, but how and when it happens depends largely on who we are and
where we live.
The major death
causing risks are well-known - perhaps malaria or AIDS-related diseases in
Africa, or stroke, cancer and heart disease in North America and Western
Europe. A recent study led by the University of Washington’s Institute for
Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), involving 486 authors from 50 countries, reveals
that people can expect to live longer - in some cases, dramatically longer.
Overall life expectancy worldwide has increased by more than a decade since
1970. The Indian Ocean island nation of Maldives has shown the most striking
improvement: a woman there in the 1970s lived on average to 51; now the average
lifespan increased by three decades.
The
study further reveals a shift away from infectious diseases as a cause of death
towards non-communicable diseases such as cancer, stroke and heart disease -
often called “lifestyle” diseases. Among communicable diseases, only AIDS and, to
a lesser extent, malaria has increased since 1990, primarily in sub-Saharan
Africa. Now only 25 percent of deaths globally are due to infectious diseases
and maternal, neonatal and nutritional causes. More than 65 percent are due to
non-communicable conditions, and just fewer than 10 percent are related to
injuries, the bulk of them happening on increasingly deadly roads in the
world’s poorest places. #AIDS #IHME #Maldives #Life #Death
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