Lifestyle diseases represent a failure of health system: deputy health minister
Deputy Health Minister Dr Faustine Ndugulile joins a free medical check up event organised as part of the 4th Muhas University-wide Symposium on Non Communicable Diseases held in Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam. The existence of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in Tanzania represents a failure of the heath system, said today the Deputy Health Minister Dr Faustine Ndugulile as he revealed new government strategies to curb the diseases.
Dr Ndugulile was speaking to researchers and policymakers who gathered at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (Muhas) for the 4th Muhas University-wide Symposium which focused on NCDs.
“When a person falls sick due a Non Communicable Disease, he/she represents a failure of the health system because this person will suffer for life with the disease or may die of it. We have no choice. We have to prevent these diseases,’’ said the Deputy Health Minister as he graced the symposium.
“Many years ago, when I was a medical student, I never saw a case of a patient with kidney failure but today there are many cases and the patients are so young. Why? We must research more and establish the factors behind the rising trend of such diseases,’’ he added.
He revealed that in October this year, the government would launch a national plan to curb NCDs, which will outline the ways the NCDs such as diabetes, cancer, heart diseases and chronic lung diseases can be prevented, rather than prevented.
“By taking the preventive approach, we can do away with the high cost of treatment that we have been incurring as the government and in fact at individual level in dealing with NCDs which are by nature expensive to treat,’’ he said as he opened the symposium that saw researchers present their findings on the current trend of NCDs and they should be prevented.
Presenting on the topic: National Burden and readiness for NCDs, a researcher Dr Omary Ubuguyu from the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children said for the country to win the battle against NCDs, a change of mindset, lifestyles and taking a preventive approach are inevitable.
Dr Ubuguyu challenged researchers who attended the symposium to focus on establishing solutions to the lifestyle trap facing people from all walks of life—be it the educated and uneducated ones—which increases the risk of suffering from NCDs.
He stressed on adopting a multisectoral approach and challenged some of the infrastructural gaps in the country which deny people the ability to engage in activities that would prevent NCDs.
“Imagine, if a person wants to go jogging past the flyovers we are building, how could they do it? We need to look into how we plan our infrastructure in relation to shaping better lifestyles to prevent NCDs,’’ he said.
