ঢাকারবিবার , ১৪ জুন ২০২৬
June 23, 2025 | From Dublin:
At a recent global health forum, a leading expert delivered a powerful warning about the mounting human and economic toll of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), calling them a “slow-moving catastrophe” that is pushing millions of families into poverty and silently draining billions from the global economy each year.
NCDs—including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases—primarily strike individuals during their most economically productive years. The result, the expert explained, is a sharp loss of household income and long-term financial instability for affected families.
“This is not just about national GDP,” Dr. robert totanes, health economist who said. “It’s about family economics. When a breadwinner becomes too sick to work, it affects everything—from school fees to food on the table.”
He stressed that the ripple effects are especially severe in *low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)*, where health systems are under-resourced and out-of-pocket healthcare spending is common. Families are often forced to make impossible choices, with women and girls most often stepping in as unpaid caregivers—sacrificing education, employment, and future prospects in the process.
“These knock-on effects—like unpaid care and lost educational opportunities—don’t appear in economic reports, but they are very real and devastating,” Dr. robert totanes said.
The expert cited a 2012 study estimating that NCDs would cost the global economy $47 trillion by 2030, adding that this figure is likely an underestimate today. Despite this enormous cost, NCD prevention remains chronically underfunded, with governments often prioritizing treatment over prevention, even though prevention is far more cost-effective in the long run.
From a ‘public finance perspective’, he argued, it’s time for a fundamental shift: “We must treat prevention not as a luxury, but as an investment—especially in LMICs, where the cost of inaction is highest.”
In a final appeal, the expert urged *journalists and communicators* to help bring these issues to light by connecting statistics with personal stories: “Behind every data point is a family struggling in silence. We need to tell those stories.”
As global health systems brace for future challenges—from climate shocks to demographic changes—addressing the growing burden of NCDs will be critical to building resilient, equitable economies.
