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Health, wealth and power
Published in Nigel Crisp, Turning the World Upside Down Again, 2022
The incidence of these non-communicable long-term conditions, sometimes called diseases of affluence, has been growing strongly in recent years in lower-income countries as their economies have grown. They are already a significant problem in South Asia and are giving Africa a double burden of communicable and non-communicable disease. At the same time, with the movement of populations from lower-income to higher-income countries, there have been some changes in disease patterns locally. In London, for example, many of the people with communicable diseases are found among these groups.
The Meatification of Diets
Published in Bill Pritchard, Rodomiro Ortiz, Meera Shekar, Routledge Handbook of Food and Nutrition Security, 2016
Further, not only is there is no nutritional case for the level of meat consumption that prevails in rich countries (and that many with increasing affluence are racing towards), there is a strong epidemiological case against it. The heavy consumption of animal products is a central (though not the only) feature in diets that are marked by high levels of unhealthy fats, salt, sugar and refined carbohydrates, and low levels of vegetables, fruits and legumes, to say nothing of agro-chemical and livestock pharmaceutical residues. These dietary patterns have been strongly correlated to soaring levels of obesity and many non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as: cardiovascular disease; Type-2 diabetes; hypertension; fatty liver disease; and some cancers – these are very tellingly often referred to as ‘diseases of affluence’ and are increasing quickly in fast-growing middle-income countries (Lim et al. 2012; Popkin et al. 2012; WHO 2010; Popkin 2009; Campbell and Campbell 2006; Leiztmann 2003; Sabate 2003).
Health promotion in the context of employment and unemployment
Published in Théodore H. MacDonald, Rethinking Health Promotion, 2012
Since 1978, the emergence of the ‘lifestyle risk factor’ paradigm has refocused the direction of public health issues and health promotion in particular. Slowly but inexorably, the realisation by the general public that lifestyle behaviours, such as smoking, exercise habits and dietary factors, predispose synergistically to the modern ‘diseases of affluence’—cardiovascular disease and malignancies—has attained currency. This has led to a shift from the assumption that health depended on control of disease, and therefore on medical intervention by physicians, toward a view which gave more emphasis to individual responsibility. Instead, it has become clear that there are no miracle cures for the new killers and that they are largely the result of the lifestyle of the individual. We now know that, exactly as illness is caused by identifiable factors, health is likewise so mediated, the relevant factors being determined by nutrition, physical fitness, handling of stress, choice of environment and use of alcohol, tobacco and drugs. In short, they are controlled by behaviour and can be controlled only by its modification.
Research inequities: avoiding the next pandemic
Published in Pathogens and Global Health, 2020
In Western countries, some diseases remain unknown and are not perceived as a health threat. This influences the scientific agendas of most fundraisers, which invest in diseases of affluence. This leads to the underfunding of research for several infectious diseases, particularly those that affect rural areas outside tourist routes in low- and middle-income countries. It has been estimated that 90% of health research investment addresses health problems in high-income countries, while only 10% goes toward research on diseases uniquely present in low-income countries [1].