Fewer people die of communicable diseases

In rich countries, people mainly die of things that aren’t communicable, like cancer or heart disease. But in poor countries like Chad, people often die from communicable diseases like influenza, pneumonia, diarrheal diseaes, and tuberculosis.

But deaths from communicable diseases are falling in low-income nations. “In 2023, for the first time in history, communicable diseases were responsible for fewer than half of all deaths in low-income countries, according to the World Health Organization. Communicable diseases are infectious illnesses that can spread between people, directly or indirectly, such as tuberculosis, malaria, and cholera. The milestone reflects long-term progress: thanks to better medical care and rising prosperity, more people are surviving infectious diseases and living long enough to die of noncommunicable diseases like cancer and heart disease.”

The World Health Organization notes that “The long-term shift towards [non-communicable diseases] continues. NCDs accounted for 74% of deaths globally in 2023, compared with 58% in 2000. Eight of the world’s ten leading causes of death were NCDs in 2023. This shift is increasingly visible across all income levels. In 2023, for the first time, communicable diseases accounted for less than half of all deaths in low-income countries, marking another step in the global epidemiological transition.”

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