Challenges of Developing Health Care Systems in Combatting Non-Communicable Diseases (original) (raw)

2023, Journal of the Obafemi Awolowo University Medical Students’ Association

Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) have caused global concern in the past few decades and are a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. In developing countries, the burden of NCDs has put a strain on already overstretched resources that were originally designed majorly to handle communicable diseases. Developing healthcare systems are therefore faced with a myriad of challenges in combatting NCDs. The aim of this review is to outline the structure of developing healthcare systems in the context of healthcare policy and programmes related to the prevention and management of NCDs and to identify the unique problems faced in combatting the growing threat of NCDs in these regions. To achieve this, a search of literature published within the last 5 years was conducted using Google Scholar, PubMed and the NCBI database. This revealed that despite the existence of global and national policies, developing nations face multiple challenges in the prevention and management of NCDs. Most of these problems were found to be related to lack of infrastructure, inaccessibility of healthcare services, high cost of screening and medications and understaffed facilities. The burden of NCDs was also shown to contribute to worsening poverty in low-and middle-income countries. The proposed solutions focus on alleviation of these problems through global commitment to policy implementation and investment in healthcare programmes and facilities. Summarily, NCD rise in developing countries must be considered a significant issue and international and regional commitment is necessary to turn the tide and provide lasting solutions for preservation of life.

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