Non-communicable diseases account for nearly two-thirds of the world’s total mortality and morbidity, led by ischaemic heart disease, stroke and diabetes, says the latest Global Burden of Disease (GBD) report launched at the World Health Summit, Berlin, and published in The Lancet.

In India, the causes of death are shifting from infectious diseases to NCDs. According to the report, while in 1990 diarrhoeal diseases were the leading cause of deaths, with the age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) at 300.53 per lakh population, in 2023, ischaemic heart disease caused maximum deaths — ASMR rate at 127.82 per lakh population. Covid-19 , the leading cause of deaths in 2021, plunged to the 20th place in 2023, followed by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lower respiratory infections and

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