Top ten ways to an early grave

London - Bad habits like drinking, smoking and overeating, once the preserve of the rich, are taking a hold in developing nations, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.

In a report on one of its largest research projects yet, it said the top 10 killers, in order of deadliness, were:

1. Malnourishment
   
2. Unsafe sex
   
3. High blood pressure
   
4. Smoking
   
5. Alcohol
   
6. Bad water and poor sanitation
   
7. Iron deficiency
   
8. Smoke inhalation from indoor fires
   
9. High cholesterol
   
10. Obesity
    

Chris Morris, author of the WHO's World Health Report 2002, said "this report is a signpost for public health policy".

The report said the top 10 killers accounted for more than one-third of the 56-million deaths around the world annually.

The report also slated the large amount of salt added to industrially produced food like bread.Salt reduction was the most cost-effective way of tackling high blood pressure, it said, and legislation was the most reliable way of bringing this about.

"This report shows the world is living dangerously - because it has little choice - or because it is making the wrong choices."

Not all is doom and gloom though, as the WHO officials have said that "many of the risk factors can be reversed quickly". (Source: The Cape Times, 30 October)