Diet, Health, and Noncommunicable Diseases

2280 Words5 Pages

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) definition of health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states that “Indigenous individuals have an equal right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. States shall take the necessary steps with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of this right”, thus affirming the basic human right to life and health that is guaranteed under international human rights law. It also goes on to state, “Indigenous peoples have the right to promote, develop and maintain their institutional structures and their distinctive customs, spirituality, traditions, procedures, practices and, in the cases here they exist, juridical systems or customs, in accordance with international human rights standards”. This implies a greater obligation of states to uphold not only the indigenous individual’s right to health but also the collective right of indigenous peoples to maintain and use their health systems and practices in pursuit of their right to health. This being stated the same can and/or should be applied to every individual around the world that health should be a culturally normal state of well being.

A diet as defined in the Encarta World English Dictionary as what a person or animal eats, controlled intake of food, or the regular intake of something. As this paper is concerned diet will be considered as what a person regular intakes as food.

A non-communicable disease, or NCD, is a medical condition or disease which is non-infectious. NCDs are diseases of long duration and generally slow progression. They i...

... middle of paper ...

...tive is to reduce illness; disability and death due to lifestyle related diseases by helping residents adopt and maintain healthy lifestyles.

Works Cited

Cunningham, M. (2010, January). State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Chapter 5: Health. Retrieved on June 30, 2011. from http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/SOWIP_chapter5.pdf

Garcia, Ed (2011). The Caribbean Diet. Retrieved on June 20, 2011 from www.livestrong.com/article/271150-the-caribbean-diet/

World Health Organization. 2011. [World Map Illustration and Table of Countries reports of 2008 deaths due to non-communicable diseases] Global Health Observatory Data Repository Total NCD Deaths. Retrieved June 24, 2011 from http://apps.who.int/ghodata/?vid=2490

World Health Organization. Noncommunicable diseases (NCD). Retrieved June 24, 2011 from http://www.who.int/gho/ncd/en/index.html

Open Document