The World Health Organization has released new data today showing a dramatic increase in chronic diseases such as obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes especially in the developing world.
In its annual World Health Statistics report WHO says up to 50 per cent of adults in Africa have high blood pressure, with majority of them remaining undiagnosed.
WHO says one in three adults worldwide, has raised blood pressure, while one in ten adults has diabetes.
The report says nearly a quarter of all adults in the Americas region are obese, with women more likely to be overweight than men, and thus at greater risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers.
Dr Ties Boerma, the Director of Health Statistics at WHO, says non communicable diseases are no longer diseases confined to the developed nations.
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