Non-communicable diseases in childhood

Abstract

The focus is on the most common non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in low and middle-income countries, including asthma, cancer, diabetes, rheumatic fever, and sickle cell disease. It reviews the burden of disease, the global targets, and the challenges in prevention, screening, diagnosis, and management, largely due to limited resources and their low priority relative to other conditions. The chapter proposes a life-course approach to the prevention of adult NCDs due to tobacco use, alcohol abuse, unhealthy diet, and lack of physical activity, as lifestyle habits are often established in childhood and adolescence. The importance of government policies to prioritise prevention of NCDs by limiting the sale of harmful products using tax policies and the use of the revenue generated to promote healthy lifestyle and to strengthen health systems is emphasised.