By Nadine Thomas-Brown, Guardian Lifestyles Reporter, nadine@nasguard.com

The Bahamas is only one of the countries globally on which non-communicable diseases are wreaking, social, physical and economical havoc, according to Dr. Yitades Gebre, the Pan American Health Organization's (PAHO), Health Surveillance and Disease Management Advisor.

The irony is that many of these diseases are preventable, and are not typically spread from person to person.

According to the doctor over the years, non-communicable diseases have become more prevalent in developing countries such as The Bahamas where they double the health care burden because of other infectious diseases.

"If the present trend is maintained, the health systems in low-and middle-income countries will be unable to support the burden of disease", says Dr. Gibre.

He says the prominent causes for heart disease, diabetes, cancer and pulmonary diseases can be prevented but urgent, preventive actions are needed and efficient strategies should deal seriously with risk factors like smoking, alcohol, physical inactivity and western diet.

In countries such as The Bahamas, obesity contributes to many of the non-communicable diseases.

Being overweight predisposes persons to heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers hypertension and stroke among others. Chronic diseases which can lead to death. Gibre says that in The Bahamas at least 27.4 percent of the population is overweight while 43 percent of Bahamians are obese, due in part to genetics and lifestyle choices.

The latest health statistics for The Bahamas indicate high prevalence and mortality rates for chronic non-communicable diseases — obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, and cancers —conditions due primarily to poor lifestyle choices.

The Department of Statistics reports that 57 percent of all deaths annually in the country are from chronic non-communicable diseases.

Data from The Bahamas CNCD's Prevalence Study and Risk Factor Survey (Feb. 21-Mar. 25, 2005) produced the following prevalence rates for risk factors for CNCDs:

The descriptive study involved a cross-sectional survey of 1,424 men and women aged 15 to 74 years residing in 637 households in three areas of The Bahamas — New Providence, Grand Bahama and Long Island.

"Up to 80 percent of Heart Disease, Stroke and Type 2 Diabetes, and 40 percent of cancer could be avoided through healthy diet, regular physical activity and avoidance of tobacco use," the doctor said.

He recommended that a concerted effort of health care providers. educators, legislators and social advocates as well as a multi-pronged approach to health be employed to address the problem of increasing obesity.

Such diseases may result from infections caused by an individual's normal microbiota, such as an inflammation of the abdominal cavity lining following rupture of the appendix, poisoning following the ingestion of preformed toxins, such as staphylococcal enterotoxin, a common cause of food poisoning; and infections caused by certain organisms found in the environment, such as tetanus, a bacterial infection resulting from spores in the soil gaining access to a wound.