THAILAND’S AWARENESS OF CRITICAL ILLNESSES IS RATHER CONCERNING
Fred J. Hegner, CPCU, FLMI
General Manager of Regional Health: Focusing on a Simple and Engaging Journey for the Insurance Customer
Publish Sep 29, 2022
Regrettably, there is a lack of understanding of major illnesses in Thailand, which has had a big influence on the local population. This lack of awareness had left quite the impact towards the Thai citizen. Diabetes, stroke, kidney failure, and severe coronary artery disease are a regularly contributing factors to the already overcrowded hospitals in Thailand. Heart disease is also a very concerning matter in Thailand, the prevalence of cancer is obviously on the rise.
It is arguable that Thailand is one of the countries that suffers from the highest prevalence of the chronic diseases that can result to death. These unpleasant and grave diseases do not show favoritism; they prey on individuals from all walks of life and administer the same horrible and terrifying therapy, but the treatment will be more difficult for those with the lowest socioeconomic status. Those who are in need of urgent protection are, as a result, in a position in which the insurance company could lend a helping hand.
WHAT IS myFiexi CI?
Tune Protect Thailand (TPT) fortunately offer its customers suitable products to aid and assist them in their time of needs. myFlexi CI product shield its consumers from any cost that they may face due to every major disease. Giving you the luxury to customise and adjust your preferred plan within your fingertips through the official app (TuneTOUCH) or website Click!
It is imperative that action be taken in order to prevent the tragedy from becoming much more severe and inflicting an even deeper damage to the nation. The top critical illnesses are indeed included in myFlexi CI product and studies show that these illnesses are majorly involved behind the reason why Thailand’s mortality rate is going through an increasing trend. myFlexi CI allows the users to secure their insurance and protection digitally which delivers the purpose of targeting the “Millennials” and “Zillennials” as these group of audience would surely own any form of device, in which is the main platform for these digital insurance.
With the lack of awareness in critical illnesses, Thailand has suffered quite a number as the mortality rate steadily rising. Studies correlating the chronic illnesses and Thailand mostly depicted that these illnesses proved to be very dreadful to the nation. TPT have partnered with two medical entities which are Health2GO and myEliteDoctor and added an additional services within the myFlexi CI.
Health2GO is your personal favorite telemedicine services that is embedded into the product and provide a one-stop solution for our customer and approach a doctor anytime anywhere.
myEliteDoctor offers medical second opinion services for those who have been diagnosed with a serious illnesses such as cancer or heart disease, befitting with the product itself.
TOP 5 CIs STATISTICS FOR THAILAND OVER THE YEARS
People of all ages in Thailand are extremely worried about the possibility and risk of being diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. Moreover, new evidence dispels the myth that only the elderly are at risk for heart disease and it shows that it can affect people of any age. In the past 10 years, the number of Thai people who have died from cardiovascular disease, especially “Coronary Artery disease,” has been increasing- it is a major cause of death in Thailand. The main factor causing the disease is food, as people have changed their eating behaviour.
They are eating high fat and high carbohydrate foods, exercising less and experiencing high stress. Genetics also plays a role. According to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) data published in 2020, coronary heart disease deaths in Thailand reached 51, 305 or 11.53% of total deaths. The age adjusted death rate 46.80 per 100, 000 of population ranks Thailand #165 in the world. Statistics shows how people are getting heart attacks at an alarming rate. Recent regional globalisation and industrialization have triggered a dramatic shift in the region’s epidemiology. The outcome for people diagnosed with heart failure are not ideal, despite the development of high-quality treatment and up-to-date professional practise recommendations.
Kidney failure, also known as “Silent Killer” , is the second leading cause of death worldwide. In Thailand, 11.6 million (17.5%) people currently have CKD, 5.7 million (8.6%) have advanced CKD (stages 3–5), and over 0.1 million require dialysis. Every year, >20,000 people with ESKD need treatment with hemodialysis (HD) or peritoneal dialysis (PD). In 2009, the Thai- Screening and Early Evaluation of Kidney Disease (SEEK) study group reported that the prevalence of CKD in Thailand is 17.5% with stages I, II, III and IV 3.3, 5.6, 7.5 and 1.1%, respectively. The highest prevalence was noted in Bangkok (23.9%), followed by the Northeast (22.2%) and North (20.4%) regions. In the Northeast Thailand, not only the incidence of kidney stone, but also of probable kidney diseases are high compared to other regions. Moreover, awareness of the CKD among the Thai population is extremely low.
This is vital because earlier detection of CKD allows timely intervention, potentially slower the progression of disease, and decrease mortality (Cha’On, 2020). Despite kidney failure not scaling the chart as one of the most dangerous disease in Thailand, it has still take countless lives and leave families devastated hence showing the threat that it possess. The prevalence of patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) who need dialysis and/or transplantation has more than doubled in Thailand during the past two decades (Ong-ajyooth et al., 2009)
The rising mortality toll in Thailand is a direct result of the deplorable circumstances, and unfortunately, cancer is also a factor. Cancer is the leading cause of death in Thailand and mortality is steadily increasing. In 1997, the country’s cancer death rate was 43.8 deaths per 100,000 population, and the number rose to 120.5 deaths per 100,000 population in 2017. According to the latest report of the Global Cancer Incidence, Mortality and Prevalence published in 2018, lung cancer is noted to be the most common type of cancer in Thailand and accounted for 14.1% of all types of cancers (of which, 70% were diagnosed in the advanced disease stage). In addition, lung cancer has the second-highest mortality rate (18.7%) in Thailand next to liver cancer, which has the highest mortality rate (20.3%) as of 2018 (Reungwetwattana et al., 2020). In 2020 alone, there were 190,636 new cancer cases in Thailand. By 2040, the Global Cancer Observatory predicts that there will be 290,000 new cancer cases.
Based on the World Health Organization (WHO)’s 2020 fact sheet on the incidence of cancer in Thailand, the incidence of cancer in Thailand is far below that in the United States. Still, among men in Thailand the most common types of cancer (and their acknowledged risk factors) are liver and bile duct, trachea, lung and bronchus, colon rectum. Similarly, there are differences in the top three most common cancers in Thailand for women. These include breast, colon and rectum and cervix uteri. (Jones, 2020).
Furthermore, the never ending inflation of Thailand impermanency rate could also be hold responsible to stroke or cerebrovascular disease. Thailand has experienced significant economic and health systems reforms, similar to the rest of the emerging nations. As time passed, it foundation transformed from a traditional agricultural system to a booming industrialised system. As a result to a change from a predominantly rural to an urbanized population, numerous individuals’ lifestyle have shifted. As a direct consequences, dietary habits and physical activity have undergone significant changes, from healthy diets consisting of primarily rice and vegetables; in their stead come a high-sugar and high-fat western diets. Additionally, urbanisation has led to a rise in community competitiveness and in a reduction of time spent at home. Due to its greater conveniences, fast food has replaced traditional, home-cooked meals as the default option for families.
The progressive declines in the population’s level of physical activities has led to an increase in time spent engaging in sedentary pursuits. As a direct result, the numbers of person suffering from cardiovascular problems, and in particular strokes, has increased dramatically. According to Suwanwela (2014), As the leading cause of death and disability in Thailand, it is estimated that, there are more than 250,000 new stroke cases each year. Stroke claims approximately 50,000 lives annually. Alarming statistics from the Ministry of Public Health, rank stroke the first most common cause of death among both women and men. Stroke related mortality is unfortunate but for survivors, stroke creates major burdens of disability for patients and their families. It carries the highest rank for disease burden in Thailand measured by disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost in female and the third in male.
Lastly, diabetes is one of the main concern due to its unpleasant ability to turn on the switch of mortality rate and causing it to increase even more. Diabetes is a very significant and growing global health problem and this does not exclude Thailand. The estimated national prevalence of diabetes in Thai adults was 9.6% (2.4 million people), which included 4.8% previously diagnosed and 4.8% newly diagnosed. The prevalence of impaired fasting glucose was 5.4% (1.4 million people). Diagnosed diabetes, undiagnosed diabetes, and impaired fasting glucose were associated with greater age, BMI, waist-to-hip ratio, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, and serum creatinine levels. The majority of individuals with diagnosed diabetes had received dietary or other behavioral advice, and 82% were taking oral hypoglycemic therapy. Blood pressure-lowering therapy was provided to 67% of diagnosed diabetic patients with concomitant hypertension (Aekplakorn et al., 2003).
Thailand is among the countries in Asia with a high prevalence of diabetes. More than 200,000 deaths annually among the Thai population are owing to chronic noncommunicable diseases, and about 30,000 deaths are owing to diabetes, a leading cause of death in Thailand. Previous Thai National Health Examination Surveys (NHES) have shown that the prevalence of diabetes in individuals aged 20 years and over increased from 7.1% in 2004 to 7.5% in 2009. The proportion of unawareness of diabetes declined from 66% in 2004 to 33% in 2009 whereas the proportions of treatment and control for all diabetes increased from 15% in 2004 to 31% in 2009 (Aekplakorn et al., 2018).
With such over the roof statistics, one can assume that the level of awareness among the Thais concerning the chronic illnesses is rather low and stunted. The launched of myFlexiCI last year was intended to put the awareness of critical illnesses as a paramount issue among the Thais in hope of these stated statistics will start to drop slowly and these serious health risk issues be taken as significant and important problem that need to be provide with a solution immediately.
DIABETES SPECIALIZES PRODUCT
In addition, Bao Wan Protect is another product from Tune Protect Thailand that help covering a specific illness which is diabetes. A complete coverage related to diabetes is given to those who buy this particular product. With the arising cases of chronic illnesses including diabetes, these products serve great purpose for the markets to have their health covered and help in increasing awareness for this disease. Meanwhile in Tune Protect Malaysia, there are no specific product that cover only diabetes but instead, diabetes is also included in the newly launched product called Critical Safe+.
Tune Protect will keep on inventing and innovating new products and services upon the upcoming year. With a clear target and mission in mind, we will strive to be a better insurance providing company so that our customers will always be put under a sense a security and protection.
*Terms and Conditions of underwriting as specified by the company. The insured should fully understand terms and conditions before purchase.
Contact for more information: 1183 or Line@ : @tuneprotect
