Background: non-communicable disease among Syrians
1. Syria had undergone an epidemiological transition from communicable to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) before the conflict with a particularly high burden of cardiovascular disease (CVDs) and diabetes. For example, in 2004, it was estimated that CVD was responsible for more than half of all causes of mortality in Aleppo. This is in part due to the prevalence of risk factors for CVDs amongst the Syrian population with 2 out of five being hypertensive, obese or smokers.
