PNEUMONIA, or the inflammation of the lungs caused by infection, has overtaken injuries from accidents as Zamboanga del Sur’s leading cause of death, beating even other lifestyle diseases.
Lifestyle diseases include Alzheimer's, atherosclerosis, asthma, cancer, cirrhosis, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), diabetes, heart disease, metabolic syndrome, nephritis or chronic renal failure, osteoporosis, acne, stroke, depression and obesity.
The latest Regional Development Council (RDC) report under the health indicators for Zamboanga Peninsula, as submitted by the DOH-Center for Health Development, said that overall, the top ten leading causes of mortality showed a 15.80 percent increase in 2008.
Pneumonia, according to the said information paper, registered an increase of 226 deaths in 2008, from its record of 990 the previous year.
For infant mortality, pneumonia is also first with 120 while it placed as seventh leading cause of morbidity for the region with an overall tally of 14,088 patients sick in 2008.
Following pneumonia is Ischemic Heart Disease with 1,135—a big increase—compared to its 973 figure in 2007.
Cancer (all forms) is third, with 1,128, jumping from 916 in the previous year.
Injuries (all types), which used to be the top one for two straight years since 2006, is now fourth with 1,113.
The Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) explains most of the recorded injuries are intentional and motor vehicle crashes. This is attributed to inadequate road signs, lack of knowledge on road safety, poor enforcement of laws and driving under the influence of alcohol.
The IPHO added that the peace and order problem is also a factor that brought about high incidence of injuries and accidents.
Other forms of heart disease, meanwhile, dipped to 894 in 2008, as compared to 1,050 in 2007 while hypertensive disease posted 770 in 2008.
Again, the IPHO said that hypertensive diseases as well as other forms of cardiovascular diseases and ischemic heart disease increased enormously for men and women, largely attributed to lifestyles becoming a major health problem in the province.
Tuberculosis (all forms), which considerably decreased between 2001 to 2005, registered 642 as cardiovascular disease more than doubled in 2008 with 575.
Kidney disease, the ninth killer, increased slightly with 470 and COPD is listed with 436.
With the changing lifestyle of Filipinos, public health concerns regarding chronic degenerative diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer are becoming too significant to ignore.
That is why healthy diets, regular exercise, abstinence from smoking and moderate alcohol intake were recommended for one to develop or have a healthy lifestyle.
Creating a healthy lifestyle is making small changes in how one live each day and be healthy; this is the message of the Provincial Nutrition Committee (PNC).
Governor Aurora Cerilles, for her part, said she wants everybody’s participation in achieving proper nutrition in the prevention and control of diet-related lifestyle diseases, also known as non-communicable diseases (NCD).
The four major NCDs, branded as the leading causes of death in the country, are cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes mellitus and COPD.
REPORT BY MICHAEL MEDINA
