Abstract
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have emerged as one of the major endemics in Fiji which is responsible for more than 80 percent of deaths annually. In this study, we estimate the economic burden of non-communicable disease mortality in Fiji. The specific impact of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease and cancer-related mortality on Fiji's output is also investigated using the autoregressive distributed lag bounds tests approach to cointegration. The data used is compiled from Fiji Ministry of Health and Medical Services and World Health Organization's Mortality database. Overall, the study finds that NCD mortality rate together with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease and cancer have a significant negative effect on output per capita of Fiji between 1972 and 2016. A one percentage point increase in NCD-mortality rate reduced output per capita by 0.012 percent. In addition, a percentage point increase in the mortality rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease and cancer decreased output per capita by 0.018, 0.01, 0.031, and 0.035 percent, respectively. The findings conclude that NCD poses significant economic burden in Fiji and recommend policy innovations in lessening the high risk of NCD among the Fijian population.
Highlights
The prevalence rate for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the low and middle-income countries has been growing steadily, presenting a major threat to people, families, and communities while hindering the potential achievement of development goals [1]
Where Y is the output, measured by real gross domestic product (RGDP); A is the total factor productivity (TFP); K is the stock of physical capital; and L is the labour force
Prior to testing for cointegration, we test the order of integration for each variable using the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test
Summary
The prevalence rate for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the low and middle-income countries has been growing steadily, presenting a major threat to people, families, and communities while hindering the potential achievement of development goals [1]. 41 million people die from an NCD of which 15 million people are between ages 30 and 69 [2]. Rising NCD crisis in the low and middle-income countries poses a significant threat to the progress on sustainable development goals especially the poverty reduction strategies. Low income earners and disadvantaged group are more likely to get sick and die from NCDs because of greater risk of getting exposed to behavioural risk factors such as unhealthy diet, and harmful consumption of tobacco and alcohol, which makes households use family income to finance their healthcare cost [3].
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