Trends in Noncommunicable Diseases among Brazil, Russian Federation, India, China, and South African Countries (2000–2016): An Investigation of Fruits and Vegetables Intake and Health-care Financing on Noncommunicable Diseases Mortality Rate

Globally, 41 million people die annually from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). The trends in deaths attributed to NCDs increased by 13.58, 154, 108, and 5.12 thousand per annum each in Brazil, China, India, and South Africa, respectively, while declined (16.14 thousand per annum) in Russia during the period 2000 and 2016. Regression estimates reveal that for every 1 US$ increase in current health expenditure per capita, NCD mortality rate declined by 0.32, 0.27, 1.68, 0.49, and 0.12 per 100,000 population in Brazil, China, India, Russia, and South Africa, respectively. Further, vegetables intake per capita is found to be highly negatively correlated with NCD mortality rate with statistical significance (P < 0.05) for China, underscoring the importance of vegetables in reducing risk factors for NCDs. This study underscores the need for further research and better implementation of policies, for reducing NCDs and catastrophic loss to the population and economies.