South-East Asia Regional Conference on Epidemiology

From research to policy: examples from NCD
surveillance
Bela Shah and Prashant Mathur
The health care needs of the world’s population are undergoing dramatic changes due to demographic
and disease transitions. Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer
and depression, are rapidly replacing infectious diseases as the leading causes of adult disability and
premature death. Eighty per cent of total deaths due to noncommunicable diseases occur in lowincome
countries. Men and women are equally affected. Cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes
are becoming serious concerns, accounting for 54% of deaths and 38% of the disease burden in
countries in the WHO <strong>South</strong>-<strong>East</strong> <strong>Asia</strong> Region (WHO/SEAR). With the current trends, the top five
causes of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost in 2020 are likely to be ischaemic heart disease,
unipolar major depression, road traffic injuries, cerebrovascular diseases, and chronic obstructive lung
disease (1). It has been estimated that a 2% annual reduction in deaths due to chronic diseases globally
could result in preventing about 36 million premature deaths by 2015 (2).
Fig. 1: Health situation in the WHO <strong>South</strong>-<strong>East</strong> <strong>Asia</strong> Region, 2001- 2007
Source: WHO Geneva, Estimates of disease burden and deaths for 2005.
The State has a responsibility for promoting, maintaining and restoring optimal health of its population
through well-defined public policies. There is enough reason to formulate policies based on scientific
evidence in the context of their application. Choi has identified three areas and 12 essentials of
developing a science-based policy (3):