2023-10-07 02:12:00
The regional director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Matshidiso Moeti, pleaded, Friday in Dakar, “for an integrated approach” to give more impact to the fight once morest non-communicable diseases.
“We must focus attention on the immediate need to close the gaps in cancer prevention, screening and care. To achieve this, we must adopt an integrated approach,” said Ms. Moeti at the official opening ceremony of the sixth edition of the Galien Africa Forum, which is being held in Dakar (October 3-7).
According to Matshidiso Moeti, the integrated approach in the fight once morest non-communicable diseases involves “the intensification of vaccination programs once morest human papillomavirus”.
“We know what we have to do. We understand the importance of prevention, early diagnosis and appropriate care and treatment,” said the WHO regional director, stressing that the African continent “bears an unequal burden” of non-communicable diseases, the theme of the 6 -th edition of the Galien Africa Forum.
Cancers, for example, constitute “another source of inequalities” in Africa. “Women in the region bear the highest global burden of breast cancer and cervical cancer,” said Ms Matshidiso Moeti.
The impact of non-communicable diseases is felt on the region’s economy, beyond health, said Ms. Moeti, citing the example of South Africa where the costs associated with type 2 diabetes are expected to approaching “US$1.9 billion by 2030, if no measures are taken to significantly reduce the number of cases”.
“An important lesson we have learned over the decades is the correlation between emergencies and communicable and non-communicable diseases,” she stressed, referring to the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, in during which “people suffering from comorbidities were most exposed to the risk of developing a severe form of the disease and dying”.
“We are using this knowledge to build capacity in primary health care as part of the WHO package of essential interventions, to combat noncommunicable diseases (…). “, said Matshidiso Moeti.
The head of the Senegalese government, Amadou Ba, chaired on Friday the official opening of the 6th edition of the Galien Africa Forum, held under the theme “Communicable diseases, Africa in the fight”.
The scientific component of the Galien Africa Forum was preceded by the women’s and youth forums, held from October 3.
The Galien Africa Forum, managed from Dakar, aims to be a platform for scientific exchange on issues of common interest and the priorities of the African continent, particularly in terms of health.
It brings together Nobel Prize winners, political leaders, experts, researchers, students, doctors, socio-anthropologists, biologists, innovators, investors, international organizations, as well as actors from civil society and the private sector.
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