Major Diseases, Health Conditions, and their Impacts

Health Systems and Universal Health Coverage

Why It Matters
Session Highlights
WHS Perspectives
WHS Clips
Publications

Major diseases and health conditions include communicable and noncommunicable diseases, mental and neurological conditions, injuries, and other causes of illness, disability, and premature death. Their burdens are shaped by biological, social, environmental, and commercial factors and vary widely across countries and populations. Understanding these interconnected conditions and their impacts is essential to advancing prevention, improving care, strengthening health systems, and protecting health throughout the life course.

43 million

Noncommunicable diseases caused at least 43 million deaths in 2021, equivalent to 75% of non-pandemic-related deaths globally.

82%

In 2021, 18 million people died from a noncommunicable disease before the age of 70. Around 82% of these premature deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries.

1 in 7

Nearly one in seven people worldwide, or approximately 1.1 billion people, were living with a mental disorder in 2021.

39 million

Bacterial antimicrobial resistance is projected to directly cause around 39 million deaths globally between 2025 and 2050.

10.7 million

An estimated 10.7 million people developed tuberculosis worldwide in 2024. TB remains the world’s leading cause of death from a single infectious agent.

Why It Matters

Disease patterns are changing worldwide. Noncommunicable diseases now account for most deaths, while infectious diseases, mental health conditions, neurological disorders, and antimicrobial resistance continue to place a major burden on individuals, communities, and health systems.

These impacts are not distributed equally. Income, geography, gender, age, conflict, environmental conditions, and access to prevention and care influence who becomes ill, who receives treatment, and who can recover. Ill health also affects education, employment, household income, and social and economic stability.

Reducing disease burdens requires more than treating individual conditions. It depends on prevention, early detection, equitable access to quality care, sustained research, and stronger primary healthcare. Connecting disease-specific expertise with resilient health systems, responsible innovation, and action on the underlying drivers of health is essential to improving outcomes across populations and generations.

Session Highlights

Key 03

“Mental health disorders, anxiety, and depression are certainly larger than they were in 1990.”

Christopher Murray

Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation

“The biggest increase in the share of the burden due to NCDs has been in low- and middle-income countries.”

Christopher Murray

Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation

“The transition from communicable to non-communicable diseases is happening everywhere in an accelerated manner.”

Alarcos Cieza

Unit Head, Department of Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health (WHO)

WHS Perspectives

WHS Perspectives | Commentary by Prof Lukoye Atwoli

The Nairobi moment: Why global health reform must begin with Africa

The African continent carries roughly a quarter of the world’s disease burden yet holds little control over how its health future is funded, manufactured, and secured, argues WHS International President Prof Lukoye Atwoli. Drawing on the WHS Regional Meeting 2026 in Nairobi, he sets out five pillars for transforming the global health architecture and argues that Africa is prepared not just to participate in that conversation, but to lead it.

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