The Sunday Mail
Shamiso Yikoniko
Health Reporter
Smoking, alcohol abuse, high-fat diets and physical inactivity — all lifestyle behaviours — have been identified as the major causes of non-communicable diseases in Zimbabwe.
Diseases linked to lifestyle choices killed 138 000 people in 2014 as morbidity and mortality cases for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) continue to increase at an alarming rate.
NCDs are medical conditions or diseases which are non-infectious.
The diseases generally have slow progression and have a long duration.
These include heart disease, stroke, cancer, asthma, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, cataracts, among others.
The four main NCDs are cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and chronic lung diseases.
Globally, unhealthy habits like smoking, alcohol abuse and consuming too much fat, salt and sugar have sparked an epidemic of the diseases.
The preventive services acting principal director in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Dr Owen Mugurungi urged people to revise their lifestyles.
“NCDs are no longer the diseases of the wealthy. Anyone can succumb to NCDs simply because they are lifestyle diseases — which are controllable,” he said.
“When drugs are available to reduce blood pressure, lower cholesterol and improve glucose metabolism, the situation looks somehow under control. This appearance is misleading and blunts the urgent call for lifestyle change.
“People should adopt a health-seeking behaviour which is not yet part of our culture. All epidemics are preventable and the strategies are already in place but it’s only that people don’t want to follow them,” he said.
Besides being preventable, these diseases are now the leading cause of death and disability. As a result, most Zimbabweans are burdened by both infectious diseases and NCDs.
Health officials opine that the primary solution is disease prevention, that is lifestyle behaviour change.
Cancer Association of Zimbabwe monitoring and evaluation officer, Mr Lovemore Makurirofa challenged the nation to adopt healthy diets.
“Cancer, like most NCDs, are lifestyle-related diseases and I strongly feel that it’s high time that people take responsibility and lead healthy lifestyles,” he said.
“I challenge the nation to revert back to the traditional diets that our ancestors used to have and also implement diets that are high in vegetables, fruits and roughage.”
Of late, a lot of attention world over has been channelled towards HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria while the most chronic diseases were being sidelined.
This has proved to be costly to the world population.
Dr Mugurungi added that this “lifestyle disease” epidemic causes a much greater public health threat than any other epidemic known to man.
“The increase in NCDs is a slow-motion disaster as most of these diseases develop over time. But unhealthy lifestyles that fuel these diseases are spreading with a stunning speed.”
“Most of these diseases are preventable to a degree. By becoming informed, making conscious diet and exercise decisions and being proactive about one’s health, individuals can do a lot to prevent NCDs,” he added.
The burden of NCDs is rising explicably among lower income countries and populations. NCDs kill 38 million people annually and cause almost two thirds of all deaths in the developing world, which is about 23 million each year.
In 2011, at a UN high level meeting on NCDs, 190 countries agreed on global mechanisms to reduce the avoidable NCD burden including a Global Action for the Prevention and Control of NCDs 2013-2020. This plan aims to reduce the number of premature deaths from NCDs by 25 percent by 2015
