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Health on decline worldwide, WHO says
Report says smoking is top factor
May 5, 1997
Web posted at: 5:49 a.m. EDT (0949 GMT)From Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen
ATLANTA (CNN) -- You'd think with all the advances in medicine over the years, we'd be seeing less cancer, less heart disease and less diabetes worldwide. But we're not.
In fact, a new report by the World Health Organization predicts the number of cancer cases will double in most countries over the next 25 years. The same is true for diabetes.
According to WHO, the solution to this global problem is actually quite low-tech.
"Don't smoke. Take a healthy diet rich in vegetables and fruits. Don't become obese. Carry out physical exercise," says Dr. Paul Kleihues of WHO, author of the group's report.
There's a reason he mentioned smoking first.
"The bad news is the main problem really is the spreading of the smoking habit at the moment," Kleihues says.
While smoking rates are down in the United States, that's not true for the rest of the world. For example, about 60 percent of 18-year-olds in France smoke.
"We have lost the young people today," Kleihues says. "When you go through Paris today or Frankfurt, young people smoke. It's a very disturbing fact."
And the situation in Eastern Europe is even worse, Kleihues says.
"They have now reached levels of lung cancer rates that are the highest ever reported in the history of man," he adds.
Kleihues says the solution to this global smoking problem should come from the United States, since American tobacco companies have exported the problem to the rest of the world.
"You have exported it, but you must be the one to bring it down eventually," he says.
American anti-smoking campaigns are slowly beginning to have an effect elsewhere, Kleihues says.
"The Chinese government has now recognized it's a big problem," he says. "They are now trying to induce, slowly, legislation banning smoking in public places."
WHO hopes this and similar steps will lead to less cancer and heart disease and, eventually, better global health.
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