This is a press release issued in response to the WHO report Preventing Chronic Disease: A Vital Investment, published in October 2005.
Indonesia is estimated to have an increase in the population of 50% from 206 million in 1998 up to 312 million in 2050. With the increase in life expectancy and aging of the population during the last decade, the majority of deaths in Indonesia (61%) are attributable to non-communicable diseases. One of the major risk factors of chronic disease is tobacco use, and tobacco consumption is predicted to increase in Indonesia as tobacco-control policies are weak. The arguments behind the failure to ratify the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) reflected the strong influence of the tobacco industry – a multinational tobacco company has invested large amounts of capital in Indonesia in order to capture the domestic market. Moreover, the increase in the prevalence of obesity needs to be addressed, through increasing physical activity and promoting a healthy diet. Global action on integrated health-promotion programmes for preventing chronic diseases is needed, in particular to reduce tobacco consumption in Indonesia.
The WHO document Preventing Chronic Disease: A Vital Investment reports the facts about the burden of chronic disease in developed and developing countries, the misunderstandings about chronic disease, the misperception of the link between chronic disease and poverty, and chronicles success stories from countries that have implemented the intervention. All the evidence provided in the report gives potential direction to designing an innovative community intervention in Indonesia. Against the background of growing political will to integrate chronic disease into the health system, the CAPCoD work in Indonesia is timely – it can provide the government with the most appropriate intervention programme.
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Other press releases from CAPCoD projects issued in response to the WHO report can be found here.