Lifestyle diseases main cause of deaths

During the first national forum on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) concluded Thursday organised by the ministries of Public Health and Sanitation and Medical Services, about two million Kenyans are smokers and half of them will die of tobacco-related diseases. The forum will lead to a United Nation’s forum in New York in September.

The statistics further show that 18.7 per cent of Kenyans are overweight while five per cent are obese, putting 20 per cent of the population at risk to develop the diseases.

In terms of physical exercise, 17 per cent of Kenyans live an inactive life while more than 70 per cent consume unhealthy diets which are high in fats, sugar and salt.

Speaking during a past forum, Prime Minister Raila Odinga said the government was directing its resources towards fighting the diseases.

He said public education on how to detect the diseases was necessary so that they can be arrested at the early stages.

“Ignorance is the major contributing factor to many diseases,” Mr Odinga said.

He said the diseases had been neglected for a long time by the government, making them expensive to treat. Former Medical Services minister and current Kisumu County Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o said there were plans to arrest the diseases in all corners of the country by keeping electronic records of patients so that they can be easily traced.

He said the continent is under siege as nine out of 10 deaths from NCDs occur before the age of 60 in African countries.

“Our first task is to create national awareness and sense of urgency on actions to be taken, much as we did when HIV/Aids invaded humanity,” Prof Nyong’o said.

He said the second task would involve putting in place institutional capacity and capability in terms of infrastructure and health officers.

Prof Nyong’o said the government had not invested much in science and technology and urged that traditional medicine be allowed as part of treatment regimes for patients.

“They ought to have been allowed to operate on a framework that gives out the right dose after extensive research,” the minister said.

Former Public Health and Sanitation minister Beth Mugo said 80 per cent of diabetes and heart diseases can be prevented by avoiding tobacco. She said 40 per cent of cancer can be avoided through the same practice.

“Increasing physical activity, diet are some of the low-cost measures that can prevent millions of premature deaths caused by NCD,” she said in a speech read on her behalf by the former assistant minister James Gesame.