A/HRC/19/59 Figure 3. The 19 leading risks of premature deaths (worldwide, by country-income level, 2004) Source: WHO, Global Health Risks: Mortality and Burden of Disease Attributable to Selected Major Risks (Geneva, 2009), p. 10. 11. The fight against NCDs is underfunded, in part, because it was not included in the Millennium Development Goals adopted in 2000. Less than 3 per cent of development assistance for health goes to combating NCDs, even though they cause more than one third of all premature deaths.22 The poorest segments of the population are affected disproportionately.23 Poor families may be unable to afford the increased health-care expenditures that result from NCDs. Annually, 100 million people are pushed into poverty because they cannot afford the necessary health services. 24 In India for example, treatment for diabetes costs an affected person on average 15–25 per cent of household earnings,25 and cardiovascular disease leads to catastrophic expenditure for 25 per cent of Indian families and drives 10 per cent of families into poverty. 26 Furthermore, people who are affected may not be able to work, and their family members may have to provide care, resulting in lost revenues. Poor families may be less educated, on average, about the risks of unhealthy diets, and they lack the resources to improve their diets. 22 23 24 25 26 8 R. Nugent and A. Feigl, ―Where have all the donors gone? Scarce donor funding for noncommunicable diseases‖, Center for Global Development Working Paper No. 228 (Washington DC, 2010), p. 17. Ala Din Alwan and others, ―Development at risk: addressing non-communicable diseases at the United Nations high-level meeting,‖ Bulletin of the World Health Organization, vol. 89 (2011), pp. 546-546A. WHO, World Health Report: Health Systems Financing - The Path to Universal Coverage (Geneva, 2010), p. 5. A. Ramachandran and others, ―Increasing expenditure on health care incurred by diabetic subjects in a developing country: a study from India,‖ Diabetes Care, vol. 30, No. 2 (2007), 252-256. A. Mahal and others, The Economic Implications of Non-Communicable Disease for India, Health, Nutrition and Population Discussion Paper (Washington DC, World Bank, 2010).