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Non-Communicable Diseases

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•  WHAT ARE NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES?  

NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES (NCDs) refer to illnesses that don't spread from person to person through germs, viruses, or other living organisms.   Examples of such diseases include diabetes, cancer, arthritis, asthma, cancer and stroke.

Most NCDs occur because of our lifestyles and/or behaviors.   Factors that contribute to the onsets of these diseases include tobacco use, high alcohol consumption, poor nutrition, and physical inactivity.   Few non-modifiable determinants of NCDs are age, ethnicity, and gender.

Community Health Assessment, 2001

•  62% of Palauan females and 58% of Palauan males are obese.

•  81% of Palauans only eat 1 to 2 servings of vegetables a day.

•  74% DO NOT do vigorous activities as part of their work.

•  55% of Palauans mostly sit or stand with walking for no more than 10 minutes a day at work.

•  87% of Palauan adult betel nut chewers use tobacco regularly with their chew.

•  53% of Palauan chewers said they started adding tobacco to their betel nut chew when they   were under 16 years of age.

•  99.6% of diabetes cases are of Type II, the type that results mostly from the lifestyle and behavior of individuals.

•  20% of children between the ages of 11-15 use tobacco regularly.

•  About 50% of Palauan male drinkers consume 6 or more alcoholic drinks per day. Additionally, the number of drinkers double during the weekend.

•  The number of Palauan female drinkers triples during the weekend.

•  When asked what they thought were critical problems in their neighborhoods that needed immediate action, almost half of the community members assessed stated ALCOHOL as the number one problem; the second most critical problem was TOBACCO; the third, MARIJUANA use.

  STATISTICS

•  The top three medical conditions for outside referrals are cardiovascular, cancer, and urology, respectively (2004, Office of Public Health Data and Statistics).

•  top 10 leading causes of death (1999-2003, Office of Public Health Data and Statistics.)

1. Cancer                                                                          N = 118

2. Heart Disease                                                                N = 99  

3. Injuries                                                                          N = 82

4. CVA (Stroke)                                                                  N = 69

5. Natural Causes/Unknown                                                 N = 42

6. Septicemia                                                                     N = 33

7. COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder)               N = 31

8. Kidney Disease                                                               N = 27

9. Diabetes                                                                         N = 25

10.Cirrhosis/Liver Disease/Alcohol Abuse                              N = 24

 

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