‘Over 871,000 in Pakistan died from non-communicable diseases in 2021’

Over 871,000 people died from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Pakistan in 2021, accounting for 52 per cent of the country’s 1.675 million total deaths that year, according to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) NCD Progress Monitor 2025.

The report paints a grim picture of the country’s public health landscape, showing a growing burden of diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory illnesses, with a 26 per cent probability that a Pakistani aged 30 to 70 would die prematurely from one of these largely preventable conditions.

Despite this alarming mortality burden, Pakistan’s national response to NCDs remains inadequate and fragmented. The WHO evaluated countries on 11 key progress indicators related to prevention, surveillance, policy implementation and healthcare system readiness.

Pakistan has fully achieved only three of these indicators, while four have been partially achieved and another four remain completely unachieved. This places Pakistan among the countries making slow progress on NCD control and prevention.

Pakistan has not yet set time-bound national targets for reducing NCDs based on WHO guidance, nor has it established a comprehensive and reliable system for collecting and reporting cause-specific mortality data.

There is no sustained national campaign to promote physical activity among the public, and the country lacks front-of-pack nutrition labelling, a measure considered crucial to helping consumers make healthier dietary choices.

Progress has also been rated as only partial in several other critical areas. These include surveillance of key NCD risk factors such as tobacco use, unhealthy diets and physical inactivity. They also include implementation of a multi-sectoral national strategy to address major NCDs and their risk factors, availability of evidence-based guidelines for managing NCDs at primary healthcare level, and provision of essential medicines and diagnostic technologies for chronic respiratory diseases.

Although Pakistan has made progress in enforcing large graphic health warnings on tobacco packaging, and banning certain forms of tobacco advertising, it is yet to implement plain packaging laws, significantly increase excise taxes, or fully enforce smoke-free policies in public spaces. These gaps reduce the impact of tobacco control policies which are critical in curbing one of the most potent drivers of NCDs.

The WHO report also highlights the absence of concrete action to promote healthy diets in Pakistan. There are no policies to reformulate food products to reduce salt, sugar or trans fats, and no regulatory controls to limit the marketing of unhealthy foods to children.

Public food procurement systems do not prioritise healthy food options, and there are no meaningful national mass media campaigns to promote healthier dietary choices. Reviewing the report, a senior health official said that the death of over 871,000 Pakistanis from diseases that are largely preventable should serve as a national emergency.

He warned that without urgent and coordinated action, Pakistan’s public health infrastructure would be overwhelmed by the growing tide of chronic illnesses, particularly among younger populations already facing increased rates of obesity, hypertension and diabetes.

Countries such as Iran and Thailand, facing similar economic constraints, have managed to significantly reduce their NCD burdens through stricter taxation, universal healthcare access and well-funded public awareness campaigns. Iran, for example, has brought down its risk of premature deaths from NCDs to 14 per cent — nearly half of Pakistan’s.

In the report’s foreword, WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasised that investments in NCD prevention are not just about saving lives but also about economic resilience.

According to the WHO, every dollar spent on preventing and controlling NCDs yields at least $7 in return through increased productivity and reduced healthcare costs. With the Sustainable Development Goal target of reducing premature deaths from NCDs by one-third by 2030 fast approaching, the WHO has called on governments, including Pakistan’s, to act decisively.

It has urged stronger leadership, better surveillance systems, enforcement of tobacco and alcohol taxes, public education on healthy lifestyles, and expanded access to essential healthcare services. Without immediate action, warns the report, the already heavy toll of NCDs in Pakistan is likely to worsen.