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Science
Non-communicable diseases have killed 102 people in the last 60 seconds, yet most remain unaware of the danger. A Copenhagen health scientist and designer team plan to change that
More people die from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like heart disease, lung disease, cancer and diabetes than any other cause.
Yet NCDs do not occupy a significant portion of the public’s attention. This is according to two brothers: Allessandro, a medical doctor from the University of Copenhagen and Harvard Medical School, and Giuseppe, a designer and creative director. Together, they have launched a campaign to raise awareness.
“The NCD group of diseases started as a sort of a leftover group — the major cause of death used to be communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, or smallpox. This has now changed: more people die from NCDs than any other reason”, Allesandro Demaio says to the University Post.
A film which uses crowdsourced footage — silent ten second clips, of various people who work with or have been affected by NCDs — will be shown on 4 July to European bigwigs who will gather in Vienna to discuss nutrition, exercise, and other preventative measures with the WHO. You can still send a clip via “HIV has become a brand”
“NCDs continue to face common misunderstandings, all the way from the top to the layman. They are commonly thought as diseases of white, rich Americans. This couldn’t be further from the truth — some of the countries hit hardest by NCDs are also some of the poorest”, Demaio says.
The films will profile young change-makers from Kenya, Mongolia, and Bangladesh, highlighting their work in battling NCDs.
“Communicable diseases like HIV have become their own brand. Even though NCDs affect the same people, they get relatively little exposure. We plan to change that”, Demaio says.
Here is the promotional video:
[video:http://vimeo.com/66709047 width:525 height:380 align:center]
universitypost@adm.ku.dk
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