OPINION:
Imagine if millions of people drowned each year due to lack of aquatic skills and we, as a society, thought it reasonable to invest most resources into finding a cure for human drowning instead of teaching people how to swim properly. Unfortunately we are doing something similar with chronic disease.
As a health professional I’m inspired by the collective efforts of individuals such as Bill and Melinda Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, Larry Page and Sergey Brin to name a few, who make a meaningful impact on world health issues but I’d like to challenge their current approach. We are missing a huge opportunity to reduce up to 80 percent of chronic disease today.
The collective research tells us it’s possible if we can help people adopt healthy lifestyle habits including smoking cessation, weight control, stress reduction, and proper sleep, exercise, and nutrition habits. It’s astounding to even consider the possibility. Such an approach would leave up to 20 percent of current disease levels to manage and cure.
Chronic disease isn’t just a problem for wealthy countries like the U.S. In fact poor countries are disproportionately affected by chronic disease. The World Health Organization estimates that worldwide, chronic diseases will account for double “the number of deaths from all infectious diseases, maternal and perinatal conditions, and nutritional deficiencies combined.” And it is “an under-appreciated cause of poverty [that] hinders the economic development of many countries.” This problem deserves and requires more well-funded teams of innovative, intelligent, and passionate people dedicated to finding the right solutions. But to do so, it needs more love, acknowledgment and support from powerful influencers. The world desperately needs it.
Rich Millar, MPH
Gilroy, CA
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