by Aimee Keenan-Greene

In 2008, 63 percent of deaths, or 36.1 million people, were from conditions like heart disease, strokes, chronic lung diseases, cancers and diabetes.

Specifically, cardiovascular diseases account for 17 million deaths, followed by cancer -7.6 million, respiratory disease - 4.2 million, and diabetes - 1.3 million.

These four groups of diseases alone account for about 80 percent of all noncommunicable disease (NCD) deaths.

That now makes NCDs the leading killer according to the first WHO Global status report on noncommunicable diseases  just released. 

"The rise of chronic noncommunicable diseases presents an enormous challenge," says WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan, who launched the report during the WHO Global Forum on addressing the challenge of noncommunicable diseases. "For some countries, it is no exaggeration to describe the situation as an impending disaster; a disaster for health, for society, and most of all for national economies."

WHO says millions of deaths can be prevented with stronger anti-tobacco controls and promoting healthier diets, physical activity, and reducing harmful use of alcohol; along with improving access to health care.

Nearly 80 percent of  NCDs occurred in low and middle income countries, that's 29 million people. 

"About 30% of people dying from NCDs in low- and middle-income countries are aged under 60 years and are in their most productive period of life. These premature deaths are all the more tragic because they are largely preventable," says Dr Ala Alwan, WHO Assistant Director-General for Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health.

This new report is a key component of the 2008-2013 Action Plan for the implementation of the WHO Global Strategy on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases.

The UN General Assembly High-level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of NCDs, will be held in New York, September 19th and 20th

Without intervention, NCDs are expected to take the lives of 52 million people annually by 2030. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says childhood obesity affects approximately 12.5 million children and teens.

The New England Journal of Medicine recently reported on a new link between adolescence body mass index and adult obesity rates.

Researchers found an elevated body mass index in adolescence, one that is well within the range currently considered to be normal, constitutes a substantial risk factor for obesity-related disorders in midlife.

Although the risk of diabetes is mainly associated with increased BMI close to the time of diagnosis, the risk of coronary heart disease is associated with an elevated BMI both in adolescence and in adulthood, supporting the hypothesis that coronary heart disease, particularly atherosclerosis, starts in childhood and is more gradual than the development of diabetes.

Obese children are more likely to have risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and Type 2 diabetes, than are other children and adolescents, according to the CDC.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 24 million Americans are living with diabetes.

An estimated 15,000 children are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and about 3,700 youth are diagnosed with type 2 annually in the U.S.