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Noncommunicable diseases, the leading cause of death in Costa Rica

San Jose, January 19 (Prensa Latina) Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) have been the leading cause of death, morbidity and disability in Costa Rica for three decades, according to official data released here today.

NCDs accounted for 80.73 percent of deaths in 2019, according to Health Ministry statistics referenced by Mónica Gamboa of the Department of Sector Planning, the latest figures.

Of the noncommunicable diseases, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among Costa Ricans, accounting for 31.74 percent of those registered three years ago, followed by cancer (26.58).

In an audio broadcast on social media, Gamboa indicated that Costa Rica has been working in a variety of ways to address this public health issue.

He recalled that in 2013, with the support of the PAHO/WHO (Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization) and in coordination with several institutional and social actors, the Ministry of Health formulated the National Strategy for the Comprehensive Approach to Noncommunicable Diseases and Obesity 2013 -2021 (ENTO).

The ENTO is in line with the approaches of the WHO’s Global Strategy for the Prevention and Control of NCDs, Gamboa said.

He stressed that the ENTO Strategy 2013-2021 has been updated for the new period 2022-2030, taking up the recommendations and lines of action proposed by international organizations that have guided the work route of different countries, adapting the interventions to the reality and the Costa have been adapted to the Rican context. .

In particular, he explained, within the framework of the ENTO Strategy 2022-2030, they have prepared the Action Plan for the period 2022-2025, which will involve actors from the public and private sectors and civil society involved in the issue, with the aim of: participate to stop the increase in the premature death rate as a result of these conditions.

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