PHSSR Policy Roadmaps for Acting Early on NCDs Synthesis Report 2025

25 Acting early on NCDs The Partnership for Health System Sustainability and ResilienceFigure 6, again using data from IHME’s Global Burden of Disease Study, shows that life expectancy and healthy life expectancy have both increased since 2020, but healthy life expectancy remained around 10 years behind total life expectancy across all countries in our sample. Figure 6: Life expectancy and healthy life years, 2000–2021 Source: IHME, 2023. Disease-specific trajectories While NCDs share common risk factors and pathways, their manifestation varies substantially across countries, with critical implications for intervention strategies. Analysis of the five major NCD categories of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease, reveals not only which conditions drive the burden but also concerning trends that suggest current approaches may be inadequate. While cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in most countries in our sample, cancer now exceeds CVD in terms of DALYs in six of the eight countries. As Figure 7 shows, in France, the gap is particularly notable, with cancer accounting for 23.9% of NCD DALYs compared to 69.270.070.5 69.9 70.680.281.481.981.6 81.3 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2021CANADA 68.679.3Life expectancy Healthy life expectancy79.980.982.282.782.3 2000 2005 2010 2015 202082.8ITAL Y 2021Life expectancy Healthy life expectancy68.569.670.671.2 70.7 71.3 68.1 69.069.870.6 70.2 71.079.2 80.381.882.4 82.3 82.3 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020FRANCE 2021Life expectancy Healthy life expectancy71.171.972.573.381.2e 82.0e82.9e 83.9e 84.6e 2000 2005 2010 201573.9 74.084.1e 2020JAP AN 2021Life expectancy Healthy life expectancy 67.668.5 69.0 69.4 69.5 69.878.379.480.5 80.7 81.1 80.7 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020GERMANY 2021Life expectancy Healthy life expectancy64.365.466.467.573.875.076.477.5 66.6 67.076.477.2 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020POLAND 2021Life expectancy Healthy life expectancy 67.7 68.369.169.7 69.5 69.178.679.680.681.181.4 80.8 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020GREECE 2021Life expectancy Healthy life expectancy69.1 69.970.971.379.380.382.483.0 70.8 71.582.383.2 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2021SP AIN Life expectancy Healthy life expectancy