The Guardian view on a global health crisis: living longer may not mean living healthier

And deaths from NCDs are going up. When you look at what the experts like to call the risk factors, that’s hardly surprising. These include tobacco, alcohol, air pollution, inactivity and diets high in salt, sugar and the wrong sort of fat. There will still be people who say falling foul of these lifestyle threats is the individual’s fault, but in poor countries where greedy corporations are seeking new markets and there’s little to no education about what’s good for you, the argument is even more specious than it is in rich Europe or the US.