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esearchers say Indonesia loses US$37.2 billion a year, about 7 percent of its gross domestic product, due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, high blood pressure, heart problems and diabetes.

According to a report released by the Canada-based Cameron Institute, the figure was based on healthcare costs and an estimate of lost potential household income from workers who were debilitated by illness or died prematurely.

NCDs had a substantial economic impact, reducing GDP from 1 to 5 percent in low-and middle-income countries, according to the report.

“People with NCDs are increasing 45 percent internationally and 25 to 30 percent in Indonesia,” Ken Thorpe, the executive director of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD), told The Jakarta Post before a discussion titled “Meeting the Chronic Diseases Challenge” in Central Jakarta on Tuesday.

Thorpe said that people in low-and middle-income countries were exposed to common modifiable risk factors for NCDs, including unhealthy diets, physical inactivity and tobacco use.

According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report, the prevalence of NCDs and the number of related deaths were expected to increase substantially in the future, particularly in low-and middle-income countries, due to population growth and ageing, in conjunction with economic transitions and changes in behavioral, occupational and environmental risk factors.

Thorpe added that increasing incomes in Indonesia had changed people’s diets.

People were eating more dairy products with more calories such as cheese while exercising less, he said. “Additional weight leads to these chronic diseases.”

A survey compiled by Nielsen in April said that increased purchasing power had led Indonesians from low-and middle-income households to buy more cheeses and frozen meat.

“NCDs are increasing but people are not really aware that this is preventable mostly by how they live their life,” Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih said in a speech opening the workshop.

The government was planning regulations governing tobacco and the salt, fat and sugar content of food, Endang said.

“We are considering that, but we cannot do that to small vendors. What we can do is force fast food companies.”

According one of the world’s most respected medical journals, The Lancet, around 30 percent of the deaths in Southeast Asian countries could be attributed to NCDs and afflicted the productive 15-to-59 age group.

Deaths from NCDs are projected to increase by 21 percent over the next 10 years.

The 2008 WHO global status report on NCDs showed that around 1.1 million Indonesian people died from NCDs, including 582,300 men and 481,700 women.(drs)