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The #SilentKillers

They don’t put on disguises. They don’t lurk in the shadows. They live among us silently, stealing time, health and millions of lives each year. They are aided by equally silent forces that are shaping environments, choices, and lives.

It’s time to follow the clues, expose the patterns and confront the real killers.

 

 

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory conditions, cause 75% of global deaths each year, often affecting individuals before they realize they are at risk.

Many of these NCDs are driven by forces that relentlessly shape our health over time, for example, aggressive marketing of products that harm health, polluted environments, unaffordable health care and unfair policies that fail to protect us.

The risk factors of NCDs - like unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use, alcohol consumption and air pollution - are affected and exacerbated by our surroundings: people can’t choose healthy food if unhealthy options are all that is available or affordable, nor can they be more active if their local neighbourhood is unsafe; likewise, it is harder to avoid alcohol or tobacco if these are being aggressively promoted. In places with limited resources, conflict, or crisis, people often cannot get the care, information, or treatment they need to prevent or manage NCDs.

NCDs and their burden often develop over years, so they don’t trigger the same urgency or emergency response as a sudden epidemic or pandemic. This also makes them easier to ignore, both in public perception and in political prioritization.

 

Icon 75% of global deaths each year

 

 

Yet, the risk factors and consequences of NCDs often accumulate over lifetimes and even generations, quietly entrenching health inequities and poverty.

This makes NCDs silent killers. 

 

             

The killers - causes of death

image of salt and in the backend a buried image of a woman and man

Cardiovascular diseases - the world’s leading cause of death - can progress without symptoms for years until a sudden, life-threatening event like a heart attack or stroke occurs. High blood pressure and high cholesterol - the key risk factors of heart diseases - frequently go undiagnosed and untreated.

 

photo of a man with bear with a cigarette on his hands

Many types of Cancers grow quietly and remain undetected until they reach an advanced stage requiring more complicated treatment.   Lack of routine screening and awareness contributes to delayed diagnosis and poorer outcomes.  Cervical cancer is preventable and curable, yet it is still the 4th most common form of cancer among women worldwide. 

 

Chronic respiratory diseases, including conditions like COPD and asthma, gradually reduce lung function, often mistaken for normal ageing or minor illness. Breathlessness comes on gradually, and can be misidentified as part of normal ageing. Lung function deteriorates and symptoms worsen. Treatment is less effective when started late – a missed opportunity to reduce symptoms and improve day to day life.

 

Photo of a woman with glasses

Diabetes can cause serious harm – especially when unnoticed or misdiagnosed.  Type 2 diabetes can develop over many years, sometimes without noticeable symptoms.  In contrast, type 1 diabetes symptoms can arise rapidly and require immediate attention. People living with type 1 diabetes need daily insulin injections to survive. Without proper diagnosis, treatment and awareness, diabetes can lead to severe complications, including vision loss and kidney disease. For those living with type 1 diabetes, a misdiagnosis or lack of access to insulin is life-threatening.

 

But NCDs do leave clues – if you know how to spot them. An inexplicable chest pain that vanishes as quickly as it appears. A lingering fatigue that no amount of sleep seems to fix. Shortness of breath after walking up just a flight of stairs.

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The accomplices - risk factors

Some risk factors for disease cannot be changed. For example, type 1 diabetes, certain cancers, and congenital heart disease - have a genetic component. However, the main NCDs share major risk factors that can be modified. These are the accomplices of the silent killers.

 

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Tobacco 

A seasoned assassin. A long-time accomplice in lung cancer, chronic respiratory disease and heart conditions. It kills over half its users who are not able to quit. Tobacco use isn’t a personal choice. It’s profit-driven addiction, fueled by powerful industries and weak policies.

 

image of a sofa

Physical inactivity

A quiet accomplice. Always there, rarely noticed. Allows the killers to creep in. Lack of movement is a major contributor to heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and cancer.

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Air pollution

The masked hitman. You don’t see it coming, but it’s responsible for millions of deaths, especially through cardiovascular and respiratory conditions. 

image of a pizza demonstrating the unhealthy dietUnhealthy diet

A coordinated crime ring of harmful habits and lack of healthy choices. Together, they sneak into our meals, distort our health and pave the way for NCDs:

  • Salt: The stalker. Found everywhere, consumed in excess, almost all of us are consuming too much salt. It quietly raises our blood pressure and increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, gastric cancer and obesity.
  • Sugars: The sweet-talking deceiver. Excess intake contributes to obesity, type 2 diabetes and dental diseases.
  • Trans fats: The double agent. Hidden in ultra-processed foods, trans fats are linked to increased heart disease while posing as convenient indulgence.
  • Alcohol: A smooth but dangerous operator - Implicated in more than 200 diseases and injury conditions, including some cancers and cardiovascular diseases.

Icon Alcohol

Alcohol

A smooth but dangerous operator - Implicated in more than 200 diseases and injury conditions, including some cancers and cardiovascular diseases.

 

 

Tobacco and alcohol use, unhealthy diet, and physical inactivity can drive responses in our bodies that also increase NCD risk: raised blood pressure, overweight and obesity, raised blood glucose and raised cholesterol. All can be managed through appropriate treatment and by protecting people from risk factors.

 

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Hypertension - A hidden stalker currently affecting around 1.3 billion people in the world. Almost half of them are unaware that they have the condition, and only 1 in 5 adults with hypertension have it under control. 

 

image of a person walking on the street on a raining night and on the share an image of a burger and hot-dog.

Obesity - A devious enabler. It’s a major risk factor for NCDs such as cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, some cancers and asthma.  

 

 

The crime scene

The killers and their accomplices work in lockstep – and they thrive most where people are the most vulnerable: where health systems are weakest, medicines are out of reach, preventive care is underfunded and people are already exposed to other emergencies or health risks. 

Low- and middle-income countries bear the heaviest burden, accounting for 73% of all NCD deaths. Some of the common challenges are:

 

Crime fighters

NCDs are not distant or abstract threats - they are deeply personal and widely felt. A multi-country survey found that nearly two-thirds of adults say that they or someone in their household has been affected by an NCD. Their challenge is universal and urgent.  

Strong, fearless crime fighters work hard to respond to the global threat of NCDs. People living with NCDs and their communities, policy-makers in countries around the world, civil society actors, and multilateral organizations make progress every day. 

Join the investigation: for solutions and actions

We know the forces that are shaping health outcomes, but we need to highlight them and make their impact visible. Help us launch an investigation to address them at their source.

The fight against NCDs isn’t just fought in hospitals, but in policies, communities and the everyday decisions we make. This isn’t just about personal choices, it’s about questioning the systems and industries that shape them. 

Join the #SilentKillers investigation. Here’s how:

Speak up: Ask your government to act. Post a message calling for change and policies that protect public health, combat noncommunicable diseases.

  • Take the NCD quiz to test your knowledge on NCDs.
  • If you are a policymaker, join the investigation by championing strong, evidence-based policies as outlined in the NCD “best buys”. Reach out to lived experience advocates in your country and ask them what they would most like to see change. Share your thoughts on social media platforms, tag @WHO and use the hashtag #SilentKillers.

The silent killers count on staying invisible. Let’s bring them into the spotlight.

This campaign will run in the lead up to the fourth High-Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on NCDs and the promotion of mental health and well-being, where countries will set a new vision to prevent and control NCDs in the lead-up to 2030 and 2050. Join the action now.  

The broader scope of noncommunicable conditions also includes mental health and liver, kidney diseases. The focus of this campaign is on the four groups of diseases outlined in the Global Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases. Comprehensive information on mental health is available on WHO website.