The Impact of an Unstable Global Economy on Non-Communicable Disease (Extra Credit Post)

Today, I read a really interesting article entitled, "The Growing Impact of Globalization for Health and Public Health Practice," that related Public Health to foreign policy. The aspect of the article that I am going to share with all of you as an extra credit blog is the way in which foreign policy overlooks the growing importance of non-communicable disease in global affairs.

Public Health focuses on population health rather than individual health. Part of population health is the spread of disease. Diseases that spread from person to person are considered communicable diseases. Communicable diseases are the types of diseases most commonly found on headlines—the diseases that cause panic. These headline-making diseases are, for instance, HIV/AIDS, Influenza, and Tuberculosis. The spreading of disease is an age-old problem, but communicable diseases result in such panic now because they spread especially quickly in the face of globalization. Increased trade, travel, and flow of people results in a rapid spread of communicable diseases that is difficult to control (Labonté). Social, cultural, and economic interconnectedness create an increasingly transnational rather than national distribution of communicable disease.

In contrast, non-communicable diseases are types of diseases that cannot be spread from person to person. These types of diseases include, depression, cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and obesity (Labonté). Although these types of diseases do make it into the news on occasion, they stir up less panic because they are internal, individual diseases that cannot be passed from person to person.

The difference in nature of communicable and non-communicable diseases causes foreign policy experts to focus less on non-communicable diseases in comparison to communicable disease in the international-realm. Communicable diseases fit much better than non-communicable diseases into the “existing security framework” in global policy (Labonté). For instance, through their various effects, communicable diseases create a direct threat to the state. Whereas non-communicable diseases are something that cannot be obviously “identified, targeted, and contained or killed,” communicable diseases can be (Labonté). Foreign policy experts’ pre-existing security measures are built to find societal dangers and get rid of them, but non-communicable diseases are harder to spot and present a different type of complexity. Moreover, communicable diseases pose immediate threats to society (Labonté). In the case of the H1N1 virus, policy measures were instantly created in order to curb the flow of the communicable virus. On a national level, people were advised on how to avoid getting the sickness, and on an international scale, travel between Mexico (the place of origin of the disease) and other countries was slowed, if not altogether stopped for a period of time. This timely and productive reaction to the H1N1 virus is a prime example of the way in which foreign policy officials are well prepared for and highly focused on the dangers of the spread of communicable diseases.

In no way do I criticize the importance of international efforts to stop the spread of communicable disease. In 2010 alone, 1.4 million people died from Tuberculosis ("2011/2012 Tuberculosis Global Facts"). Without a doubt, communicable diseases pose a major threat to society. However, there also needs to be an increased international effort to lower the rates of non-communicable diseases. In 2008, out of “57 million global deaths… 36 million, or 63% were due to [non-communicable diseases], principally cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers and chronic respiratory diseases”("Global Status Report on Noncommunicable Disease 2010"). Evidently, non-communicable diseases place a heavy burden on the health of the international population. The main sources of the causes of non-communicable diseases are, tobacco use, not enough exercise, misuse of alcohol, unhealthy dietary habits, increased blood pressure, obesity and overweight conditions, high cholesterol, and cancerous infections ("Global Status Report on Noncommunicable Disease 2010"). H1N1 may present difficulties in creating a vaccine or tracking its path from person-to-person, but once the vaccine is available, there is a tangible solution. I think the primary issue that deters foreign policy officials from focusing on non-communicable disease is because the majority of non-communicable diseases are grounded in choice and the type of lifestyle an individual decides to partake in. Foreign policy experts may not believe that choice is their problem—why do they have to be the people to deal with people making poor decisions? This mindset is somewhat misguided.

Many of the issues that non-communicable diseases are derived from are based in foreign affairs, especially the global economy. The authors of the article, “The Growing Impact of Globalization for Health and Public Health Practice,” argue that global economic integration results in economic “insecurity, inequality, and vulnerability” (Labonté). The authors claim that because of the vastness of the global economy, citizens’ lifestyles are made unstable. Specifically, this instability comes from increased urbanization, transnational food corporations, increased flow of tobacco and alcohol, and the general spread of globalization of the Western lifestyle. These facets of globalization on top of general economic insecurity (unemployment, financial stress, etc.) result in unhealthy lifestyle choices that spiral into a range of non-communicable diseases from depression, to diabetes, to obesity (Labonté). I would even argue that in many cases these unhealthy lifestyles are not a matter of choice. If McDonalds is the only cheap food within a reasonable distance, then this is the only dining option that people will have. Likewise, if economic conditions are unstable, people may become depressed, causing them to engage in harmful activities that they would not have otherwise chosen such as, smoking cigarettes. Stress related to economic insecurity also heightens the stress hormone, cortisol in people’s bodies, which can cause high blood pressure and other cardiovascular issues. Because of the tie between the state of the global economy and non-communicable diseases, it seems in the best interest of the international community for foreign policy experts to give increased attention to non-communicable diseases.

Not only is it in the best interest of foreign policy experts and officials as well as states in general to focus on non-communicable disease, but it is also a matter of human rights. In class, we attempted to define what a right is, and I believe that people have the right to good health. Even though states and international actors cannot control all non-communicable diseases because of the impact of human choice on this type of disease, by giving more attention to health security and development, the high rate of non-communicable diseases would fall (Labonté). An example of health security is for states and foreign policy experts to focus on stabilizing the impacts of the shifting global economy on people’s health. By ensuring stability, rates of depression and cardiovascular related diseases would likely decrease. Additionally, development efforts are a way to curb non-communicable diseases. Developing methods to educate and empower citizens are ways to increase economic growth and stability, which in turn, can only improve people’s mental and emotional health (Labonté). Non-communicable diseases are easy to overlook because they do not scream “urgency.” However, with an effort to increase economic security on an international scale, the incidence and prevalence of non-communicable diseases will decrease.

In order to combat the problems associated with both communicable disease and non-communicable diseases various professionals need to team up. The point of this post was not to blame foreign policy officials for the rates of non-communicable diseases. Instead, this post is meant to bring attention to a major societal problem that is not inconceivable to combat. Foreign policy officials, public health workers, and clinicians must work together to create a comprehensive solution to the way in which an unstable economy degrades the state of human health. Experts in areas of global economics as well as global health need to treat non-communicable diseases rather than blame the issue on people’s choices.

Sources:

"2011/2012 Tuberculosis Global Facts." Tuberculosis (TB). World Health Organization,

2011. Web. 20 Nov. 2011. .

"Global Status Report on Noncommunicable Disease 2010." WHO Library Cataloguing-

in-Publication Data (2011): 1-176. Web. 20 Nov. 2011.

Labonté, Ronald, Katia Mohindra, and Ted Schrecker. "The Growing Impact of

Globalization for Health and Public Health Practice." Annual Review of Public

Health (2011): 1-27. Web. .