Diabetes, Hypertension, Arthritis and other Chronic Non-communicable Diseases in an English-Speaking Caribbean Nation: A Health Perspective

Abstract

Introduction It is well established in demography and health literature that there is a statistical association between morbidity and mortality, mortality and life expectancy, morbidity and health status, and morbidity and life expectancy. Since the 20 th century, health status of people in the world has significantly increased because of the transition from infectious to chronic non-communicables diseases (NCDs) [1], which is also an explanation for the increases in life expectancy. During the last 100 years, morbidities that have accounted for the majority of human deaths, particularly in developing countries, are NCDs such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, ischaemic heart diseases, neoplasms and lung diseases [1]. Currently these are the singly leading cause of human deaths throughout the globe, which for centuries have played second fiddle to infectious diseases such as small pox, bubonic plague, pneumonia, diarrhea and enteritis, and tuberclosis. In 2005, the World Health Organization [1] indicates that annually there are 35 million human deaths to NCDs which is twice the number of deaths by total infectious diseases and that 51.4 percent of the aggregate NCDs are females. Enveloped in the aforementioned statistics are the present reality of people in the world, the human face of NCDs, the health burden of these conditions on families as well as the society and the epidemiological transition that has occurred in our world, especially since 1900 in developed nations and later in developing countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) [1] has empirically established that four-fifths of people who have chronic illnesses are in the developing nations and that NCDs account for 60 percent of global mortalities. Other studies have concurred with the relationship between illness, especially chronic conditions, and poverty as well as morbidity and mortality [2,3]. The Abstract Introduction: Four (4) in every five (5) people in the developing world die from chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs); yet the literature has few studies on the health status of those with these conditions. This study fills the gap in the literature.