Non-communicable Diseases

A non-communicable disease (NCD) is a medical condition or disease that is non-infectious or non-transmissible. NCDs can refer to chronic diseases which last for long periods of time and progress slowly. NCDs are distinguished only by their non-infectious cause, not necessarily by their duration. Some chronic diseases of long duration, such as HIV/AIDS, are caused by infections. Chronic diseases require chronic care management as do all diseases that are slow to develop and of long duration. NCDs are the leading cause of death globally. In 2012 they cause 68% of all deaths (38 million) up from 60% in 2000. About half were under age 70 and half were women.

Risk factors such as a person's background, lifestyle and environment are known to increase the likelihood of certain non-communicable diseases. They include age, gender, genetics, exposure to air pollution, and behaviors such as smoking, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity which can lead to hypertension and obesity, in turn leading to increased risk of many NCDs.

NCDs include many environmental diseases covering a broad category of avoidable and unavoidable human health conditions caused by external factors, such as sunlight, nutrition, pollution, and lifestyle choices.

Genetic Diseases ·         Achondroplasia ·         Albinism ·         Bardet-Biedl syndrome ·         Bipolar disorder ·         Canavan disease ·         Color blindness ·         Cystic fibrosis ·         Down's syndrome ·         Fragile X syndrome ·         Galactosemia ·         Hemophilia ·         Krabbe disease ·         Muscular dystrophy ·         Neurofibromatosis ·         Noonan syndrome ·         Osteogenesis ·         Patau syndrome ·         Sickle-cell disease ·         Tay-Sachs disease ·         Triple X syndrome ·         Turner syndrome ·         Usher syndrome ·         Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome ·         Waardenburg syndrome ·         Wilson's disease ·         Xeroderma pigmentosum

Environmental diseases ·         Appendicitis ·         Anorexia nervosa ·         Arteriosclerosis ·         Asthma ·         Carpal tunnel syndrome ·         Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases ·         Emphyema ·         Fetal alcohol syndrome ·         Glaucoma ·         Fibromyalgia ·         Hyperthyroidism ·         Hypothyroidism ·         Irritable Bowel Syndrome ·         Liver cirrhosis ·         Narcolepsy ·         Osteoporosis ·         Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) ·         Tick paralysis