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 The burden of disease in Thailand
is gradually shifting to non-communicable diseases, injuries and mental
health. The greatest public health benefits are gained through prevention of
NCD (cardiovascular diseases, cancers and diabetes mellitus in particular),
injuries and mental health disorders. This can be achieved if the risk
factors are identified and appropriate interventions implemented to reduce or
avoid these risk factors. In addition, if NCDs and mental illnesses are detected at an early
stage and appropriate controls initiated, their severity can be reduced. It
should be noted here that the burden of non-communicable diseases usually
falls disproportionately on the poor who often have excessive exposure to
risk factors and limited access to health services. Diseases such as
diabetes, cancers and heart illnesses are often not detected until they are
at an advanced level. Aware of the increasing trends of NCDs and injuries, the Thai Government has placed
high priority on prevention and control initiatives. The Bureau of
Non-communicable Diseases is responsible for NCDs, injury prevention, and tobacco and alcohol
control programmes. The bureau
has made appreciable progress in monitoring the burden of NCDs and injuries and identifying major behavioural risk factors
classified by their provinces. The bureau also plans to improve the collection
and analysis of NCD and injury mortality and morbidity data in order to
monitor trends and evaluate the success of interventions. Due to the
unreliability of incidence data for selected NCDs, injuries and mental illnesses among the
population, cases of hospitalisation with more
accurate diagnosis are presented to ascertain the trends in the burden of
disease depicted in morbidity rates of selected diseases/conditions in
Thailand (excluding Bangkok) between 2001-2004 (Source: Bureau of Policy and
Strategy).
Since the NCD and injury
prevention and control programmes
emphasize public health and primary care approaches
(rather than secondary and tertiary treatment), effective multi-sector collaboration is required. Clearly, traffic injury
prevention and tobacco and alcohol control programmes cannot be implemented by the health
sector alone. The Thai government has demonstrated a strong commitment to the
control of tobacco use and alcohol consumption by drafting legislations,
particularly in the area of advertisement. However, the major challenge ahead
remains how to effectively reduce risk behaviour
(smoking and alcohol consumption) and increase regular exercise and healthy
diet. The Department of Mental Health, Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), is in the process of
developing the National Strategies on Mental Health, based on the Tenth
National Health Development Plan. To ensure the success of implementation,
advocacy and multi-sector collaboration are
required to address the root of social problems that are considered to be the
major causes of mental illness.
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Activities supported during
Biennium 2008-2009
Key Events
Issues for support during Biennium
2010-2011
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