Non-communicable diseases account for the majority of deaths worldwide
NON-COMMUNICABLE diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer are the biggest killers on the planet, accounting for 63% of the 56m deaths in 2008. Such is their growing impact that the UN General Assembly is holding a two-day summit in New York this week to address their prevention and treatment. This is only the second time in history that the UN has convened on the topic of health (the first was to discuss AIDS). NCDs have long been considered a rich-world problem, but current figures show their increasing prevalency in developing countries.