The Built Environment-A Missing "Cause of the Causes" of Non-Communicable Diseases

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 13; no. 10; p. 1
• Main Authors: Walls, Kelvin L, Boulic, Mikael, Boddy, John W D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.10.2016; MDPI
• Subjects: Air pollution; Alcohol; Alzheimer's disease; Asbestos; Chronic illnesses; Climate change; Conflicts of interest; Copper; Mortality; Researchers; Risk factors; Water pollution; missing NCDs; sick building syndrome; hazardous building materials; involuntary causes; built environment; environmental factors; non-communicable diseases (NCDs); United Nations 25 × 25 Strategy; global NCD burden; missing causes
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph13100956

The United Nations "25 × 25 Strategy" of decreasing non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases, by 25% by 2025 does not appear to take into account all causes of NCDs. Its focus is on a few diseases, which are often linked with life-style factors with "voluntary" "modifiable behavioral risk factors" causes tending towards an over-simplification of the issues. We propose to add some aspects of our built environment related to hazardous building materials, and detailed form of the construction of infrastructure and buildings, which we think are some of the missing causes of NCDs. Some of these could be termed "involuntary causes", as they relate to factors that are beyond the control of the general public.