Nearly 67% of deaths in people in the age groups 30 to 70 years occur due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), said Dr. Ahmad Kousha, head of the Health Ministry’s Office for Non-Communicable Diseases. The four most common NCDs in the country include cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases and cancer, ISNA quoted him as saying. He pointed to Iran’s Package of Essential NCD (PEN) Interventions and said they include: providing health centers with free blood glucose and cholesterol meters, and free faecal occult blood test to assess the risk of colon cancer.
