St. Louis, MO (PRWEB) October 19, 2016 -- The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM), the medical professional society in the U.S. for physicians, allied health professionals and healthcare executives dedicated to a lifestyle medicine-first approach to healthcare, today announced the debut of the Lifestyle Medicine Global Alliance (LMGA).
LMGA is taking the lead in uniting the Lifestyle Medicine sister organizations that are now present on virtually every continent, creating cohesiveness, enabling global sharing of best practices and educational resources, leveraging public relations efforts, and developing opportunities for synergistic collaboration. In the knowledge that lifestyle medicine offers affordable, sustainable solutions to the global pandemic of non-communicable disease (NCDs), LMGA is committed to championing the cause around the world.
“The Lifestyle Medicine Global Alliance brings together the lifestyle medicine medical professional associations from around the world to address the alarming rise in global obesity and lifestyle-related chronic disease trends—including type 2 diabetes, which is a looming global pandemic with incalculable consequences,” said Susan Benigas, executive director of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. “Identifying and eradicating the cause of disease is our mission.”
Collaboration, shared knowledge and best practices, and to more compellingly convey the power of the lifestyle medicine story—a story of health, hope and healing for one and all—is what LMGA is intended to ignite.
N. Margarete Ezinwa, MD, MPH, director of global strategic planning for the LMGA, emphasizes, “NCDs are the leading cause of death and disability worldwide, killing three in five people, and disproportionately affecting low and middle income countries. Yet, we know that 80% for NCDs can be prevented through lifestyle medicine—the evidence is overwhelming. Through the Lifestyle Medicine Global Alliance, physicians worldwide are collaborating to reverse this global pandemic.”
The LMGA launch is timely in relation to the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD)—the most comprehensive worldwide observational epidemiological study to date. It describes mortality and morbidity from major diseases, injuries and risk factors to health at global, national and regional levels. Examining trends from 1980 to the present, and making comparisons across populations, enables understanding of the changing health challenges facing people across the world in the 21st century.
The GBD report found that, although age specific mortality has decreased over the last 35 years, the number of deaths from most non-communicable causes are increasing in most countries, putting increased demands on health systems. Moreover, NCDs are increasing disproportionately in low and middle income countries.
Leading authorities now recognize lifestyle medicine as the essential clinical approach to effectively eradicating NCDs worldwide, and the LMGA is committed to championing this cause.
Susan Benigas, American College of Lifestyle Medicine & Lifestyle Medicine Global Alliance, http://lifestylemedicine.org, +1 314-398-7343, [email protected]
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