Introduction
Chronic illnesses are health conditions, which cannot be cured but can be managed and controlled. The health care systems face the challenge of a rising number of patients suffering from chronic illnesses (Fortin, Chouinard, Bouhali, Dubois, Gagnon, & Bélanger, 2013). Chronic ailments are responsible for numerous deaths in various parts of the world and, thus, have become a rising global challenge. Elmslie (2012) maintains that chronic illnesses represent a major productivity as well as fiscal risk for the economies of high, middle, and low-income nations. These ailments account for a large percentage of the health care costs and deaths in various countries. In fact, Durstine, Gordon, Wang, & Luo (2013) claim that chronic illnesses have turned out to be a focal point of public health globally due to the high health care costs incurred in their treatment as well as their cause of numerous deaths annually. Consequently, the government has an obligation to regulate the lifestyle changes, which promote public health enhancement so as to decrease chronic illnesses such as diabetes and obesity.
The control of chronic diseases is the only effective way to stop millions of people from dying as well as reduce the ever increasing health care costs. The health risk behaviors, which are associated with chronic illnesses include poor nutrition, too much alcohol intake, lack of physical activity, and tobacco smoking. The leading cause of various chronic diseases is physical inactivity (Booth, Roberts, & Laye, 2012). For this reason, the government should be at the front line in discouraging these behaviors to prevent many of their citizens from getting these ailments. Chronic diseases have an adverse impact on a country’s productivity. In fact, Wang McPherson, Marsh, Gortmaker, & Brown (2011) claim that apart from the medical costs, the society incurs significant indirect costs from the obesity due to disability pensions, increased mortality prior to retirement, reduced productivity, early retirement, and disability-free life. As a result, the government ought to facilitate a reduction in various chronic illnesses by regulating the lifestyle changes that promote the improvement in public health.
References
Booth, F. W., Roberts, C. K., & Laye, M. J. (2012). Lack of Exercise is A Major Cause of Chronic Diseases. Comprehensive Physiology.
Durstine, J. L., Gordon, B., Wang, Z., & Luo, X. (2013). Chronic Disease and the Link to Physical Activity. Journal of Sport and Health Science, 2(1), 3-11.
Elmslie, K. (2012). Against The Growing Burden of Disease. Ottawa: Public Health Agency of Canada, Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention.
Fortin, M., Chouinard, M. C., Bouhali, T., Dubois, M. F., Gagnon, C., & Bélanger, M. (2013). Evaluating the Integration of Chronic Disease Prevention and Management Services into Primary Health Care. BMC health services research, 13(1), 132.
Wang, Y. C., McPherson, K., Marsh, T., Gortmaker, S. L., & Brown, M. (2011). Health and Economic Burden of the Projected Obesity Trends in the USA and the UK. The Lancet, 378(9793), 815-825.
