Volume 50 Issue 1 - January 2012 : Social
The silent bomb that is non communicable diseases
Author : Ludo Chube
Pictures: Phenyo Moalosi The saying that “two apples a day keep a doctor away” is well founded considering that poor eating habits and lack of physical activity lead to conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and countless heart and respiratory diseases. These are non infectious diseases commonly referred to as Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in medical terms. According to a new finding by the United Nations World Health Origination (WHO), NCDs are the leading killer across the wolrd. There are four main types of NCDs including cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke, and chronic respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructed pulmonary disease and asthma. The other two are cancer and diabetes, and they all account for 63 per cent of deaths around the world.
Such diseases are referred to as noncommunicable diseases because they do not spread from person to person but are so dangerous they can cause premature deaths if they are not prevented or properly managed. Feared widely as silent killers, NCDs may not be life-threatening at their initial stage but with time those suffering from them may deteriorate progressively to the point of death. A person who suffers from any of such diseases has to take medication everyday to manage their condition, and they know better how painful and expensive or inconvenient it is to suffer from such.
Though these types of diseases were in the past often associated with affluent people, such has changed as clearly even the poor, particularly in developing countries, have become victims as well. In Africa, for instance, the challenge of having to fight both non-communicable diseases and major communicable diseases such as HIV/ AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria is overwhelming.
“This has very serious implications for our overall socio-economic and human capital development,” WHO representative in Botswana, Dr Eugene Nyarko, said at an
NCDs Pitso in November last year. NCDs may be the worst killers ever. However, it is perhaps comforting to note that most of them are preventable. Risk factors that apply to most, if not all, include poor diet, physical inactivity and smoking, all of which can be managed to keep NCDs at bay.
“Up to 80% of heart diseases, stroke and diabetes and over a third of cancers could be prevented if risk factors mentioned above are eliminated,” shared Dr Nyarko. Daily intake of certain amounts of fruits and vegetables is another way of preventatng non-communicable diseases, according to WHO. The WHO website contains a recent report on diet and nutrition which recommends a minimum of 400g of fruits and vegetables per day to prevent chronic diseases such as heart diseases, cancer, diabetes and obesity. The report states that there is convincing evidence that fruits and vegetables decrease the risk of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases.
According to permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Kolaatamo Malefho, a 2007 study conducted to establish the extent of NCDs and associated risk factors in Botswana, states that one in every three people aged between 25 and 64 suffer from high blood pressure. Speaking at the first ever NCDs Pitso organised by his ministry, Malefho revealed that of the 4 000 respondets, 22 per cent of males and 53 percent of females overweight.