Disease, disability and death: Is our lifestyle killing us?

Call it the price of affluence. The more we progress economically, financially and socially, the more inactive, indisposed and enervated we seem to become, physically-speaking. Improving socio-economic factors, including rising income levels and better access to modern amenities and conveniences, seem to have connived with a general increase in mental stress and poor lifestyle choices -- lack of physical activity, insufficient sleep, smoking, a poor and sugar-laden diet and so on -- to give governments and healthcare providers the biggest headache of the new millennium: lifestyle diseases.
Also known as non-communicable diseases, lifestyle diseases range from arthritis, Alzheimer's and obesity to heart disease, hypertension and diabetes. Most of these are preventable illnesses. They're called lifestyle diseases for a reason: they're mostly a result of our (or our ancestors') poor lifestyle choices. According to the Global Health Data Exchange, a data catalogue created and supported by the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, NCDs claimed 70 per cent of all deaths in the UAE in 2016 (last available data year), up from 63 per cent in 1990. During the same 26-year-period, deaths due to communicable, maternal, neonatal and nutritional diseases dropped from 15 to 5 per cent.
The rapid spread of lifestyle diseases in the UAE is worrying, with the government spending billions of dirhams every year to improve access to and quality of healthcare to combat such diseases. At the same time, authorities continue to initiate campaigns to educate citizens and residents against making bad lifestyle choices and to goad them into affirmative action by creating opportunities for physical activity, such as the annual Dubai Fitness Challenge and the regular walks in all emirates against diabetes and other lifestyle diseases. While the government and authorities play their part, private organisations, individuals and media must shoulder their fair share of responsibility if we are to succeed in reversing this tide and preventing the non-communicable diseases from reaching epidemic proportions.
Khaleej Times is committed to keeping the best interest of our audience at heart.
After the success of our first 'KT For Good' campaign in January, which saw unprecedented response and support from our readers to make UAE roads safer, the second chapter of the year-long 'KT for Good' campaign focuses on the growing menace of lifestyle diseases. In this fortnight-long edition of our campaign, we'll be focusing on the four connected conditions of diabetes, obesity, hypertension and heart diseases. This frightful foursome feeds off similar causes and, therefore, tackling the somewhat common causes can help keep them at bay.
Proper diagnosis is, often, half the cure. Khaleej Times is associating with several healthcare providers to offer free medical check-ups for our readers -- both in print and online -- to put our money where our mouth is. Aster DM Healthcare has already shipped free health check-up vouchers worth Dh100,000 to give away to our readers. If you think you or a loved one is at risk of any of these diseases, we encourage you to check out KT's social media platforms under the hashtag #KTForGood on how to avail of these vouchers and several other free medical and health check-up opportunities.
God gave us life. Let's not allow our lifestyle to become a death sentence.