HEALTHCARE
Asia’s healthcare tomorrow: Pivoting back to non-communicable disease
Despite NCDs accounting for 41 million deaths annually, they are still healthcare’s ‘blind spot,’ expert says.
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ccording to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 77% of all non-communicable disease (NCD) deaths are in developing countries such as India and China. Those deaths are between the ages of 30 and 69, which has often been described as a group of premature deaths. Experts argued that the progress made on NCDs during the last few years have been backtracked because of recent global events. The ‘Bringing NCDs back into the spotlight’ panel during the Future of Healthcare Week Asia on 22 November 2021 focused on the extent to which NCDs were prioritised and tackled as a global health priority set by the WHO, the United Nations General Assembly, and the Sustainable Development Goals 2030. The panel consisted of Indonesian Cancer Foundation Chairman Aru Wisaksono Sudoyo, SingHealth Patient Advocacy Network Co-Chair Ellil Mathiyan Lakshmanan, Malaysian National Cancer Council (MAKNA) General Manager Farahida Mohd Farid, and Novartis Pharmaceuticals - Patient Engagement and Communications Region Head Ruth Kuguru. NCDs are usually associated with ageing, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, respiratory diseases, and diabetes. The latter being particularly prevalent in the Asia region. NCDs account for about 41 million or about 71% of deaths globally every year. It has become more steadily prevalent due to increasing life expectancy, urbanisation, sedentary lifestyles, and changing diets, amongst many other issues. NCDs in the face of a global health crisis Kuguru said Novartis prioritises three disease areas: cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and vision impairment. Around 520 million people are living with cardiovascular diseases globally and have been disproportionately impacted over the last two years. As for cancer, many of the therapies that happen in a hospital setting are being delayed. Breast cancer is a highly prevalent form of cancer in the region, particularly in Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, and the Middle East. Worldwide, at least 1 billion people have a vision impairment that could have been prevented or still needs to be addressed. Indonesia, according to Sudoyo, is the fourth-largest economy with a sprawling area, even pre-pandemic, which poses a geological problem: water. “The amount of islands and the sheer numbers of our population is a very big barrier in disseminating [in general] here.” He added cancer was not generally thought of as a major problem in the country. The big problems it has are mother and child mortality, malnutrition, and environmental health. Meanwhile, in Singapore, scheduled treatments and follow-up appointments have not been that much 12
THE ASIAN BUSINESS REVIEW
NCDs account for 41 million or 71% of deaths globally every year
Around 520 million people are living with cardiovascular diseases globally and have been disproportionately impacted over the last two years
affected because of all the hospital protocols set. But, there was a lost opportunity for early detection because of the shutdown of screening services, particularly for cancer, noted Lakshmanan. “The [SingHealth Patient Advocacy Network] worked closely with the Singapore Cancer Society to do several screening programs. Given the long-running nature of the pandemic, they are now putting in place different ways of getting people to come down for screening. For cases like rectal cancer screening, we mail the kits from pharmacies and patients can collect the specimen and mail it back outright,” he explained. Malaysia has two scenarios, stated Farid. “The first lockdown was before vaccines were available. All the patients’ treatment appointments were on hold, people were not sure what to do, most of the hospitals were inundated with cases, and there was a near-collapse of the hospital system.” After June, when the vaccine was made available, most Malaysian patients’ treatments resumed. With the lockdown and interstate travel very restricted, they used technology to assist patients, so treatment is uninterrupted and timely. Most of the 75 hospitals that collaborated or referred to MAKNA increased by 48%, and the number of patients that were referred to MAKNA increased by 28%. If they did not have the
