JEDDAH, 27 January 2003 — “I believe that this World Health Report is a wake-up call to the global community,” wrote Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, the director-general of WHO in her message that appeared at the end of the year. The subject of the report was reducing health risks and promoting healthy ways of living. In one of the largest research projects the World Health Organization has ever undertaken, it tries to quantify some of the most important risks to health and to assess the cost-effectiveness of some measures to reduce them. The ultimate goal is to help governments of all countries lower these risks and raise the healthy life expectancy of their populations.

The significance of the report is that “It shows how the lifestyles of whole populations around the world are changing and the impact of the changes on the health of individuals, families, communities and whole populations,” said Dr. Brundtland. According to the report, the rapidly growing epidemic of noncommunicable diseases, already responsible for some 60 percent of world deaths, is clearly related to changes in global dietary patterns and increased consumption of industrially-processed fatty, salty and sugary foods. The report contains the evidence each country needs to implement the most appropriate, most cost-effective measures to take in order to reduce at least some risks and promote healthy lifestyles for its own population.

The report identifies the top ten risks globally and regionally in terms of the disease they cause. The ten leading global risk factors are: Underweight, unsafe sex, high blood pressure, tobacco consumption, alcohol consumption, unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene, iron deficiency, indoor smoke from solid fuels, high cholesterol and obesity. Together these factors account for more than one-third of all deaths world-wide and the numbers of each vary from one country to another. However, it is clear that the distribution of these risk factors is related to lifestyle changes — and mostly to poverty. The report emphasizes the global gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ by showing just how much of the burden is the result of being undernourished among the poor and of being overnourished among the well-off. The contrasts and the numbers are shocking. For example, at the moment, there are some 170 million children in poor countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia, who are underweight — and over three million of them die each year as a result of associated problems. Also at the moment, more than one billion adults world-wide are overweight and at least 300 million are clinically obese. Among these, about half a million in North America and Western Europe die from obesity-related diseases every year.

In Saudi Arabia the greatest health risks, according to the report, are blood pressure, cholesterol and overweight. These risks are strongly linked to cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and other serious health problems. However, also prevalent in Saudi Arabia but to a lesser extent are the following health risks: Underweight, iron deficiency, tobacco, illicit drugs and unsafe water. These risks indicate an imbalance in the Saudi population’s lifestyle and the inequality of access to health care and a healthy lifestyle.