Required Actions to Place NCDs in Africa and the Global South High on the World Agenda

• Published in: Health education & behavior Vol. 43; no. 1_suppl; pp. 14S - 16S
• Main Authors: Moeti, Matshidiso R., Munodawafa, Davison
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Sage Publications, Inc 01.04.2016; SAGE Publications
• Subjects: Africa; Agenda Setting; Chronic Disease - mortality; Chronic Disease - prevention & control; Commentary; Developing Countries; Disease Control; Diseases; Foreign Countries; Global Approach; Global Health; Health Behavior; Health Policy; Health Resources; Humans; International Organizations; Prevention; Risk; Risk Factors; Africa
• ISSN: 1090-1981; 1552-6127
• DOI: 10.1177/1090198115626916

Africa and most of the global south continue to experience a striking burden of communicable diseases, neglected tropical diseases, and high rates of maternal and child mortality, as well as disastrous internecine conflicts and floods. While Africa has been making steady progress in addressing communicable diseases, it now faces new threats from highly infectious pathogens, specifically those with a human-to-animal interface such as the 2014 Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa. Moreover, with weak health systems in many of its countries, Africa is the only continent where poverty rates remain high at around 48% according to the Millennium Development Goals progress report (United Nations Development Programme, 2015; World Health Organization [WHO], 2008). The emergence of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in Africa threatens to retard the social and economic gains that have been made to date. The four major modifiable behavioral risk factors for NCDs are tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, physical inactivity, and unhealthy diet. In addition, the four key metabolic risk factors known to increase the risk of NCDs are hypertension, overweight/obesity, hyperglycemia (high blood glucose levels), and hyperlipidemia (high levels of fat in the blood). This article discusses the key determinants of NCDs, implications for NCD control and prevention in Africa, and the nine global targets contained in the "Global Action Plan for Prevention and Control of NCDs 2013-2020" (WHO, 2013) that should guide all actions aimed at addressing NCDs in Africa and the global south.