DEATHS from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) pose threats to economic growth, and only investments in healthcare systems would remove them, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said.

In a NCD forum at the regional lender’s headquarters in Mandaluyong City, Dr. Bambang Susantono, ADB Vice-President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development, said such deaths were putting strains, financial and otherwise, on the healthcare systems of the bank’s developing member-countries.