Seventy-five (75) percent of the total deaths in Sri Lanka each year are due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), Consultant Community Physician at the NCD Unit of the Health Ministry Dr. Kapila Piyasena said.
In Sri Lanka, one in five people dies prematurely due to NCDs. They are between the ages of 18 and 70, and are the most productive age group. Forty percent of NCD deaths are due to cardiovascular diseases, he said at a media conference in Colombo recently.
Dr. Piyasena said annually, around 138,000 people die in Sri Lanka prematurely, and four out of five such deaths are due to NCDs. Sri Lanka loses people in the productive age group which can offer its skills for the development of the country, largely due to NCDs.
Cardiovascular diseases (coronary heart diseases or heart attacks), cerebrovascular diseases (stroke) and hypertension, diabetes mellitus, chronic respiratory diseases and cancers are the common NCDs found in Sri Lanka, he said.
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