Ecuador: Six out of Ten Deaths Result of Non-Communicable Diseases

Andes.info.ec reported in Ecuador, 6 out of 10 deaths are for non-communicable diseases. The Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos (INEC – National Statistics and Census Institute) announced that in 2011, 8,311 people died due to hypertensive and cerebrovascular diseases.

Cancer appears as the second cause of death in the country – it took 6,333 lives in 2011. Stomach cancer is the leading cause of death among malignancies; followed by the cancer of lymph tissue, forming organs; prostate cancer; uterus cancer; trachea, bronchus and lung cancer; liver cancer; and finally colon, rectus and anus cancer.

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Similarly, diabetes mellitus is the third cause of death. INEC stated that 4,455 people died due to this disease. The fourth cause of cancer in Ecuador is linked to dementia and Alzheimer – in 2011 these illnesses caused 3,894 deaths.

Some studies conducted by the WHO stated that worldwide, by 2030 deaths due to non-communicable diseases will increase. Cardiovascular diseases will rise from 17 to 25 million, while deaths caused by cancer will increase from 7.6 to 13 million.

Based on these trends, the expectation is that the annual number of deaths due to non-communicable diseases will reach 55 million people by 2030. Instead, it is expected that deaths due to infectious diseases will gradually decline over the next 20 years.

In Ecuador, chronic non-communicable illnesses represent a preventable public health issue. Thus, we work on prevention and treatment of illnesses based on the Constitution that guarantees the full exercise of citizens’ right to health.

In this area, the main achievement was the advanced version of the National Strategic Plan for the Integrated Management of Chronic Non-Communicable Disease and its Risk Factors.

According to the Epistemology Office of the Ministry of Health, in Ecuador chronic non-communicable diseases such as diabetes mellitus and hypertension have shown sustained increase since 1994.

For both diseases, the rates are clearly higher in the coastal provinces than in the rest of the country. The Galapagos Archipielago is next in importance and its incidence is higher among…. Read Article