SEEK_HEALTH: Global Burden Of Disease

We all strive and seek pleasure. This pursuit is through family, love, work, passion. We trade our time and pay a price for whatever success we aim and achieve. Most of the time, the price paid is in terms of health. Mental and physical health is always at risk and if not paid attention to lapses into ill health with severe damage and cost for self and others.
Most components of health are in our influence and we by right living can stay healthy. But there are certain elements which are beyond our control and they can overwhelm us. Lead poisoning is one such thing, mental and physical health deterioration by involving in the care of loved ones (especially spouses who take care of elderly patients with Alzheimers or Pakinsons disease).

While the world is making progress, we are moving from dangers of communicable disease to non-communicable disease.

Quoting from a recent publication:

1. Mental and behavioral disorders, such as depression, anxiety, and drug use, are the primary drivers of disability worldwide and caused over 40 million years of disability in 20- to 29-year-olds.

2. DALYs (Disability Adjusted Life Years) from high blood pressure increased by nearly 30% between 1990 and 2010. High blood pressure is a major risk factor for cardiovascular and circulatory diseases.

3. Unlike other risk factors that primarily cause DALYs from communicable diseases, progress in reducing premature death and disability from iron deficiency was much lower, declining by just 7% between 1990 and 2010. Slow progress in reducing iron deficiency helps explain why iron-deficiency anemia ranks as the third leading cause of disability globally.

To stay healthy requires awareness and adequate actions to be taken.

The most disheartening thing is the number of premature deaths because of road traffic accidents, as illustrated in the graph below.