Being overweight as a child has become an increasingly important indicator for later development of obesity and non-infectious diseases such as heart disease.
Many non-infectious diseases have a partly or completely genetic basis (see genetic disorder) and may thus be transmitted from one generation to another.
These organisms are biologically immortal but not immortal in the traditional sense as they are nonetheless susceptible to trauma and infectious and non-infectious disease.
Provincial governments have been working for years on developing disease surveillance systems, including some that are co-ordinated at the federal level, to routinely monitor infectious and non-infectious diseases.