Over 70% of PHL deaths caused by non-communicable diseases — study

More than 70 percent of the deaths recorded in the Philippines annually are due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as heart illnesses, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, cancer, and others. This was revealed by Valerie Gilbert Ulep of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), citing the 2009 National Statistics Office (NSO) death registry records, during the media briefing in Quezon City for the ongoing Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases. Ulep said NSO death registry records from 2000 to 2009 show a 38.3-percent increase in the number of deaths caused by NCDs. On the other hand, deaths from communicable or infectious diseases like tuberculosis, respiratory tract infection, bronchitis, influenza have gone down, Ulep noted.