NCDs account for more disabilities than classical diseases

Oct 30, 2011 News

Although Guyana through the Ministry of Health has a vision where people live long disability-free and productive lives, the truth is that in the last few decades chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, hypertension, the various cancers, heart diseases, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis and other such NCDs have made more people disabled than the classical disabilities that people are born with.
This assertion was recently made by Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, who pointed out that it has been observed that more people go blind today because of diabetes and hypertension than the classical eye diseases.
Additionally, he revealed that more people are having kidney failures, heart diseases and even more are having amputations and are becoming disabled because of one of the NCDs.
“These are facts that should worry us. These are facts that have in fact attracted the attention of policy makers who are interested in looking at the developmental scope of a community or of a country or of a whole region.”
It was for this very reason that the United Nations had sought to bring World Leaders together on September 19 and 20 to address the issue of NCDs. It was at that very forum that a decision was made that a conscious effort be made by the various leaders to put measures in place to address the health challenge.
But even before this the local Health Ministry was directing much focus to this public health challenge.
“Guyana has been in the forefront and it was Guyana that led the advocacy for a global meeting to discuss the impact of the NCDs,” Minister Ramsammy has asserted on numerous occasions.
He pointed out that in recognition of the fact NCDs are lifestyle diseases individual action can be taken in order to modify their impact in the future.
“The truth is how we eat, how physically active we are, whether we smoke or not, how we use alcohol, all are lifestyle choices that will determine if we will and how early we will have to endure the miseries of the NCDs, and indeed in more recent times the ‘if’ doesn’t matter anymore because of changing lifestyles…it is no longer a question of if we will but when we will?”
Minister Ramsammy has revealed that millions of people the world over are on a daily basis being added to the number of those who are living with diabetes, hypertension or heart diseases. He has disclosed, too, that over 60,000 people in Guyana alone are today living with these diseases. As a result, the Minister has said that strategic measures have been taken to expand efforts to address the scourge of NCDs.

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NCDs account for more disabilities than classical diseases

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