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Mozambican Health Minister Nazira Abdula said on Friday that the risks of contracting chronic illnesses have increased and could increasingly affect young Mozambicans and the poorest sections of society.
Speaking at a ceremony in Maputo, to launch the Mozambican Alliance to Fight against Non-Communicable Diseases, Abdula warning “the risk factors for chronic diseases have increased, affecting disproportionately the young and the poor”.
A non-communicable disease is one that is not transmitted directly from one person to another. Such illnesses are generally of long duration and progress slowly. Such chronic ailments include cardio-vascular disease, cancer, and diabetes.
Abdula said that only 20 years ago non-communicable diseases were regarded as a problem of developed countries. However, the paradigm has changed and these diseases now represent a major public health problem across the globe.
On a world scale, “they are the prime cause of death and incapacity”, said the Minister. “They cause about 40 million deaths a year, or 70 per cent of the total. About 15 million of these deaths are premature deaths occurring before the victim is 70 years old, and over 80 per cent of these deaths occur in low and middle income countries”.
Cardio-vascular diseases are responsible for around 17.7 million deaths a year, and cancer 8.8 million. Chronic respiratory diseases claim 3.9 million lives a year.
“Non-communicable diseases represent about a third of the disease burden and over half of all cases occur before the patient is 40 years old”, said Abdula. “These diseases threaten compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals, and so vigorous measures must be taken to reverse this scenario
Establishing the Mozambican Alliance to fight against Non-Communicable Diseases “is an important step to involve increasingly civil society in this struggle, and to create a platform for discussion and sharing experiences and information”, she added.
The Alliance, said Abdula, will coordinate and guide joint actions, aligned with the health action plans that already exist, and intended to achieve the common goal of “preventing and controlling non-communicable diseases”.
Unlike infectious diseases the risk factors are not primarily contact with dangerous micro-organisms, but a range of life style factors, many of which can be easily controlled. They include smoking, alcohol abuse, physical inactivity, and poor diet (including excessive consumption of sugar, and insufficient consumption of fruit and vegetables).
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