Important gains in the health status of the population have been achieved in the Middle East, thanks to improvements in technology, health service delivery and public health programs, but the region still faces big public health challenges.
Although the region shows decreasing rates of communicable disease, it has increasing rates of noncommunicable disease (NCDs), also known as chronic diseases, which tend to be generally slow in progression. The four main types are cardiovascular disease (heart attacks and stroke), cancers, chronic respiratory disease (such as chronic obstructed pulmonary disease and asthma) and diabetes.
These diseases are driven by factors that include aging, rapid unplanned urbanization and the globalization of unhealthy lifestyles, including unhealthy diets, tobacco use, lack of physical activity and obesity. They may increase blood pressure as well as blood glucose blood lipid levels. The economic costs of these diseases can be considerable. In low-resource households, health care costs for cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory disease or diabetes may quickly drain families' finances and drive them into further poverty, thus hindering their countries economic development.