If well followed, these guidelines can help nurses to better control the majority of non-communicable disease cases.
A previous review, published in the New England Journal of Medicine between 1997 and 2004, reported less than 3% of research-addressed health issues in the developing world, and the majority of this addressed communicable diseases including HIV. 23 A further review reported that >90% of published research by scientists comes from just 20 countries.
The WHO 2 estimated that although communicable diseases caused the majority of deaths in Africa at the present time, non-communicable diseases would become the major cause by 2030.
A majority of seniors suffer from non-communicable diseases, including cardiac ailments, diabetes and hypertension.
In 2012, approximately half the world's estimated 6.6 million deaths in children aged less than 5 years occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, and Nigeria accounted for approximately 13% of these deaths. 1 The majority of these deaths are caused by communicable diseases such as malaria, diarrhoea, measles, cholera and respiratory infections.
The technological advances in prevention and treatment of communicable, maternal, perinatal, and nutritional conditions responsible for the majority of deaths have significantly impacted the role of these factors in mortality declines and health improvements over time.
The simultaneous burdens of communicable and chronic non-communicable diseases cause significant morbidity and mortality in middle-income countries.
Moreover, exciting opportunities exist at the interface of communicable and non-communicable diseases, offering new and expanding research agendas.
The large number of internally displaced people has dramatically increased the risk of communicable disease transmission.
