WHO Report Maps Global Inequalities in Noncommunicable Diseases and Risk Factors

On 20 October 2026, the World Health Organization (WHO) published the report "State of inequality: noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors", described as the first effort to systematically measure inequalities in noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and their risk factors on a global scale. The report covers the four major NCDs - cancer, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes - and key risk factors including tobacco and alcohol use, obesity and unhealthy diets, insufficient physical activity and air pollution, drawing on national data collected over the past decade.

The report examines how NCD burden, prevention and care differ by age, gender, economic status, education, place of residence, disability, employment and migration status. Evidence from low- and middle-income countries shows that less educated populations tend to have higher rates of hypertension and diabetes. Across countries, poorer and less-educated women are less likely to receive cervical cancer screening, while tobacco use remains higher among less educated men. In many LMICs, rural populations have less access than urban populations to hypertension diagnosis and treatment and to cervical cancer screening. Men are more likely to use tobacco and alcohol and less likely to be diagnosed and treated when they have hypertension, while obesity is more common among women, particularly in LMICs. Younger adults with hypertension are less likely to be diagnosed and treated than older adults. "The findings show which populations are being left behind, and also where a lack of inequality data hinders our understanding of inequalities," said Dr Ahmad Reza Hosseinpoor, Health Inequality Monitoring Team Lead at WHO.

For suppliers and procurement partners, the report maps where unmet demand for essential NCD medicines is concentrated: among lower-income, rural and otherwise underserved populations in LMICs. As countries use inequality data to design and target NCD programmes, procurement of affordable, quality-assured treatments - antihypertensives, oral antidiabetics and medicines for chronic respiratory disease - is expected to flow increasingly through decentralized primary-care and community channels. Suppliers who combine WHO GMP manufacturing with competitive pricing, uninterrupted supply for chronic therapy, and documentation ready for national essential medicines lists and tenders are best placed to serve this shift.

Artemisine Medicines Technology supports NCD programmes across Africa and Central Asia with quality-assured essential medicines and full registration documentation.

Source: WHO, WHO report examines inequalities in noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors, https://www.who.int/news/item/20-10-2026-who-report-examines-inequalities-in-noncommunicable-diseases-and-their-risk-factors