The development of common diseases
Much has changed in recent decades about the way we live. Industrialization and the prosperity gained by our society have redefined our lifestyle. The omnipresence of processed foods and the decreasing need for exercise in everyday and professional life do not pass us by unnoticed.
Frequency of diseases increases sharply
This development becomes very clear from various diseases of civilisation such as obesity or diabetes. In hardly any country is the obesity rate still below 20%. Similarly, the development of diabetes now affects more than 420 million people. The global cost of diabetes is over $1.3 trillion. The figures are not encouraging for children and young people either — quite the opposite. More than 124 million children worldwide are pathologically overweight, compared with only 11 million in 1975. It has long been proven that those who eat wrongly for years and decades and move little are at a significantly increased risk of suffering one or more of the numerous lifestyle-related diseases of civilization.
Prevention as a decisive key
The question is, how are already deficient health systems to meet these ever-increasing challenges in the future?
Instead of solving the problem at its root, diseases are still treated mainly in the form of symptom alleviation or suppression. The environment that is the main cause of diseases, such as one’s own lifestyle, and the inadequate accessibility of low-threshold health care and promotion are not recognized in our health system.
