WHO: Covid-19 Pandemic Exposes Vulnerabilities of Chronic Disease Patients

"The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the fact that too little has been done, even though these diseases are responsible for seven out of ten deaths in the world," says the World Health Organization. Through this alert, the WHO calls on governments around the world to take more significant measures to fight non-communicable diseases (NCDs), notes the Map.

According to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO, the coronavirus had "attacked people" with NCDs, while the risk factors they face "increase vulnerability to Covid-19, infection, and the likelihood of more severe outcomes, including among younger people." Alone, the four non-communicable diseases (cardiovascular diseases) namely, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases, cause more than 40 million deaths per year, notes Bente Mikkelsen, Director of the Division of Non-Communicable Diseases at WHO.

According to Ms. Mikkelsen, "the most recent study shows that there is a disruption of health services, including the diagnosis and treatment of NCDs, in 69% of cases." The most exposed are those with cancer (55%) whose health services are disrupted, she supports. She concludes by stating that people living with one or more NCDs were among "the most likely to become seriously ill and die from the new coronavirus."