Public health experts are raising alarm over the rise of life threatening non-communicable diseases in Nigeria without support programs to protect the people.
Non-communicable diseases are characterized by long duration and generally slow in progression. They include cardiovascular diseases (like heart attacks and stroke), cancer, chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructed pulmonary disease and asthma) and diabetes which are generally believed to be on the rise.
This is why the World Health Organization (WHO) warns that millions of people in Africa will die from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by 2020.
Doyin Odubanjo, chairman, Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria, Lagos Chapter says the high prevalence of health crisis Nigeria is facing is not peculiar to the country as other African countries are also experiencing similar trends.
“These chronic diseases are not caused or transmitted by germs. Diabetes, hypertension, stroke, cancers, and hepatitis are now on the increase,” said Odunbanjo.
Odunbanjo further said, “So on top of the communicable diseases problem, Nigerians now have what is referred to as double burden of disease which means we are dealing with communicable and non-communicable diseases which are also on the rise and some actually believe that we may have more cases of non-communicable diseases than communicable diseases. That means they will overtake them, it does not mean communicable diseases are necessarily reducing but means non-communicable disease is on the increase.”
According to a report released by the WHO, that consolidates available data, these impending threats can be predicted because most adults in Africa have at least one risk factor that increases their chances of developing a life-threatening NCD, including heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes and chronic obstructive lung disease.
“The burden of illness, which has been gradually increasing over the past decade, will likely surpass the toll of sickness and death from infectious diseases by 2030” says WHO.
“Worldwide, deaths from NCDs will reach an estimated 44 million within the next four years, an increase of 15% from WHO’s 2010 estimate.”
Uzochukwu Olise, a medical practitioner based in Abuja said that non-communicable diseases relies heavily on avoidance of some lifestyle risk factors, smoking, drinking alcohol, poor diet (people not taking fruits and eating vegetables), and low level of exercises.
“Prevention of non-communicable diseases that are life threatening as well as weakening, and they place uncertain hardship on the people and family of those who are affected.
Olise further said, “These diseases mostly affect the women between the ages of 45-65. Adults mostly have the probability of non-infectious diseases during the course of their live.
“The high rate of hypertension is worrisome; about 20-25 per cent of Nigerians are hypertensives. Most people are unaware of their condition until it is too late. So they live their life treating hypertension through medication and lifestyle changes that can help them live longer.
Odunbanjo further said that there are a lot of programs which are targeted at the communicable diseases, big programs with huge investment like the malaria, HIV/AIDS, eradicating polio.
“But most of us have not had about diabetes, hypertension program.so for the non-infectious we do not have focus on the financial backing, experts backing, programmatic backing as we do for the communicable diseases.
“So it will be no surprise that they are on the increase and yet they are not spending enough on them. so Nigerians will definitely have a lot of these cases to contend with as the years go by,” said Doyin.
ANTHONIA OBOKOH
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