The surprising cause of most global deaths, and how we can stop it

Some of the world’s big challenges get a lot of attention. Climate change, war and immigration are constantly in the news and receive large funding from states and private philanthropies.

Other significant problems like tuberculosis and nutrition receive less airtime and awareness, but count among major global priorities, with funding allocated. 

Even the aptly named Neglected Tropical Diseases like rabies, river blindness and leprosy, which kill 200,000 people each year in poorer countries, have their own programs and attention in the World Health Organization.

But there is a challenge which we hear little to nothing about that affects more than a billion people and could be addressed very efficiently. We could reasonably call it the Neglected Enormous Disease. 

The world has made large inroads tackling infectious diseases. Two centuries ago, it routinely caused almost half of all death, but today it kills less than 15%. Instead, half of all death is caused by the two biggest killers, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Cancer causes about 18% of all deaths, but it is hard and costly to tackle with only modest success rates, which is why most treatment happens in rich countries.

The biggest killer of all, which is technically called cardiovascular disease but mostly consists of heart attacks and strokes, kills more than 18 million people each year, making up a third of all global deaths.