The study illustrates how important an effective public health system is to countering emergency events that can affect the health and well-being of large groups of the country’s population. However, such threats do not only come from infectious diseases or viruses such as Sars-CoV-2. Non-communicable diseases and risk factors that can provoke them in the long-term perspective also pose a serious threat to the health of the nation or its individual groups.
This is especially relevant for Ukraine, because before the pandemic, 84% of all deaths were related to five non-communicable diseases: cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, oncology, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and mental disorders. And almost 30% of all men who died in Ukraine in 2017 were of working age, and most of these deaths are caused by the same five chronic diseases, which in turn are provoked by such behavioral risk factors as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity.
These risk factors affect not only the life expectancy of Ukrainians, but also the national economy and security. Unfortunately, the health care system, which consists only of providing medical services, will not be able to solve this problem.
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Authors:
Maria Bachmaga, PH Capital. Public health experts Review: Natalia Kyrychenko, PH Capital. Public health experts Dmytro Naumenko, senior analyst, UCEP Snizhana Dyachenko, junior analyst, UCEP
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