Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), such as cancers and diabetes, are now the leading cause of death in the world, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2019 Global Health Estimates report published Wednesday.

The top 10 diseases accounted for 55% of the 55.4 million deaths worldwide that were reported in 2019.

It is important to understand which diseases people die from to measure how people live and to ensure that health care systems are prepared to respond to patients’ needs, according to the WHO.

At the global level, 7 of the 10 leading causes of death were NCDs in 2019. This is a dramatic rise from 2000, when only 4 of the top 10 diseases were classified as noncommunicable.

“These new estimates are another reminder that we need to rapidly step up prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of noncommunicable diseases,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Read the full article about noncommunicable diseases by Sophie Partridge-Hicks at Global Citizen.