People caring for patients with NCD likely to become sick too: research

Dar es Salaam. Taking care of a relative with a noncommunicable disease (NCD) is likely to cause a similar malady to the carer, a new study has revealed.

NCDs are diseases that are not transmissible directly from one person to another. They include autoimmune diseases, strokes, most heart diseases, most cancers, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, cataracts, and others.

A study by experts from the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiovascular Institute (JKCI) has shown that up to 96 percent of caregivers of patients for the NCDs had at least one modifiable NCD risk factor.

These risk factors include behavioural factors such as tobacco usage, harmful alcohol consumption, unhealthy eating behaviour, and being physically inactive. The biological NCD risk factors that are prevalent include excess body weight, hypertension and diabetic issues.

Speaking to The Citizen, research coordinator and scientist, Dr Pedro Pallangyo, said regardless of having access to knowledge and having an eye-witnessing experience on the impacts and toll of NCD to patients, the carers are still at higher risks to end up with similar diseases.

“They are informed, indeed. They receive primary information from doctors on what causes these diseases, how to prevent them and in some hospitals like at the JKCI we have been constantly disseminating messages and campaigns on healthy lifestyle of the carers, but the problem still persists,” he said.

Dr Pallangyo’s study involved 1,063 carers of patients attending a tertiary cardiovascular centre in Tanzania, and results showed that 1,027 ( 96.6 percent )participants had at least one modifiable NCD risk factor while 510 (48 perecent) had three or more.

“The findings call for targeted group interventions for better control of the NCD threat and its correlates. While it requires individuals lifestyle change, there are some interventions that can be addressed by the government, which include creating a conducive environment and/or specified areas to exercise, improve street safety and security as well as more public health awareness campaigns,” said Dr Pallangyo.

Dr Pallangyo’s findings together with other scientists’ research will be part of this year’s 10th scientific conference held at the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (Muhas).

The Group of scientists meet annually to discuss different aspects of the health sector especially on research and development and this year they settled on lessons learnt from the impact of Covid-19 and health system resilience.

Gracing the conference, the country’s chief medical officer, Dr Aifello Sichalwe, said these researches help the policy makers make sound decisions and practitioners into adopting the best practices.

“Though we have made good progress in health research, there is still a need to strengthen capacity and more research,” he said.

Muhas’s vice chancellor Prof Andrea Pembe said Tanzanian scientists have done an impressive job researching several key health issues in the country to find solution and preventive measures such as in HIV/Aids, malaria, sickle cell etc.

“And we see that the government is actually taking some of these recommendations into practice, which in turn help the health care improvement across the country.”