“Rich country problems” are starting to be recognized in the developing world.

• Even though aid money to developing nations has typically been spent fighting contagious diseases like HIV and malaria, public health workers are now confronting a rise illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
• The fight against noncommunicable diseases isn’t as well-funded, but funding for it has increased since 2004. Even organizations that focus their work on U.S. victims of cancer and heart disease are starting to expand into international aid.
• One obstacle to greater funding for noncommunicable diseases is simply that donors are used to fighting AIDS and tuberculosis, not heart disease and cancer. Contagious diseases are also easier to prevent than non-contagious ones. The UN’s Millennium Development Goals don’t even address this type of illness.

Facts & Figures

• 60% of deaths in developing nations result from noncommunicable diseases.
• Only 3% of the $22 billion dedicated to health aid around the world is for fighting noncommunicable diseases.
• The United Nations is holding its first high-level conference on noncommunicable diseases in 2011.

Best Quote

“We happily see declines in infectious diseases and unhappily see increases in non-infectious diseases, and donor funding has just not come close to responding to that changed health profile. There is a huge and glaring disparity.” – Rachel Nugent, Deputy Director for Global Health, Center for Global Development

Tags: AIDS, cancer, diabetes, malaria, medical aid, public health