Obesity, malnutrition and climate change (and the effects on the health of the people and on the natural systems upon which we depend) are now acknowledged as a global
syndemic that affects the majority of people in all countries around the world (1).
"The Global
Syndemic of Obesity, Undernutrition, and Climate Change: The Lancet Commission Report", en: Lancet, published online Jan 27, disponible en: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32822-8
HIV and tuberculosis: A deadly human
syndemic. Clin Microbiol Rev 2011;24(2):351-376.
2019 is the year of nutrition for The Lancet family of journals, as it publishes reports from commissions on healthy diets from sustainable food systems (EAT); the"global
syndemic of obesity, undernutrition, and climate change"; and a series of other papers.
"Joining three pandemics" -- hunger, obesity, climate -- "together as 'The Global
Syndemic' allows us to consider common drivers and shared solutions."
These interrelated health problems and social issues are characterized as a
syndemic (synergistic epidemic) of mutually reinforcing conditions or epidemics directed by biological, behavioral, psycho-social, and structural determinants.
The
syndemic effects of intimate partner violence, HIV/AIDS, and substance abuse on depression among low-income urban women.
Tuberculosis and chronic kidney disease: an emerging global
syndemic. Kidney Int 2016;90(1):34-40.
The co-occurrence of these epidemics is often referred to as substance abuse, violence, and HIV/AIDS (SAVA)
syndemic. (1).
A recent review of HIV and trauma concludes that the prevalence of trauma is 1.5-2 times greater in people living with HIV than the general population and that both HIV infection and trauma constitute a
syndemic, that is, two or more conditions that occur together, interact synergistically, and result in excess burden of disease [7].
[1] With reduced mortality, the HIV/tuberculosis (TB)
syndemic has risen alongside NCDs associated with urbanisation.
[T]he urban subcultures to which men migrate are somewhat limited in their capacity to be supportive because MSM [men who have sex with men] bring their inherited masculinity norms, internalized homophobia, and histories of victimization--all aspects of the
syndemic affecting MSM health--to this new, less-structured social realm.