Africa Joins Global Efforts to Fight Noncommunicable Diseases
By Staff Writer
The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa will organize the first African regional consultation on non communicable diseases (NCDs) from 4 to 6 April in Brazzaville, Congo. Technical experts and Ministers of Health in the African region will gather in an effort to address the growing problem of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and the region’s response to the crisis.
The Regional Ministerial Consultation outcome in Brazzaville is to prepare a joint regional position for the First Global Ministerial Meeting on Healthy Lifestyle and Noncommunicable diseases control scheduled for 28-29 April in Moscow, and the UN General Assembly Head of States and Governments Summit on the Prevention and Control of NCDs to be held in New York from 19- 20 September 2011.
The consultation will be organized in two segments: a technical meeting of experts which will take place from 4-5 April and a Ministerial consultation on 6 April whose outcome is the adoption of a common position outlining required actions for NCD prevention and control in the African Region.
WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo said, “Chronic noncommunicable conditions are an under-recognized but growing public health problem in the African Region, placing a huge social and economic burden on countries.”
It is estimated by WHO that in 2004, NCDs were responsible for 28 per cent (3.6 million) of deaths in Africa, and this is projected to increase by 27 per cent over the next 10 years. Approximately 33 per cent of deaths due to NCDs occur in persons aged less than 60 (one-third of all NCDs deaths in Africa), making NCDs a significant contributor to premature death and disability in Africa.
Although Africa as a region is reporting more deaths from infectious diseases than NCDs, the so-called silent killers are rising rapidly and are projected to exceed communicable diseases, maternal and childhood conditions and nutritional deficiencies combined as the most common causes of death by 2030 says a recent WHO report .
The Brazzaville consultation is regarded as an important milestone ahead of the UN High-Level Summit on the Prevention and Control of NCDs, the aims of which are in line with two of the six Strategic Directions for WHO 2010-2015, namely, to intensify the prevention and control of communicable and noncommunicable diseases and to accelerate response to the determinants of health.
The September 2011 UN High-Level Summit on NCDs , the first ever to be devoted by the world body to the so-called silent killers, is considered a big win for the global chronic disease community, as well as an opportunity to galvanize the energies, expertise and capacities of multiple stakeholders to make a game-changing shift in how the world responds to the health and major macroeconomic impacts of the NCDs epidemic.