They might as well be contagious too!!

Jan 22, 2017 News

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By Sharmain Grainger

Although they are no less threatening, most people have a healthy respect for communicable diseases, especially those that are transmitted sexually. The list of these types of diseases is quite lengthy.
Always leading the list is the Human Immunodeficiency Virus simply known to many as HIV (this can also be transmitted through other bodily fluids such a blood and breast milk), and then there are syphilis, gonorrhea, the Human Papilloma Virus or HPV, Herpes, Hepatitis, Chlamydia, Pubic or Crab lice, and the list goes on.
For some of these sexually transmitted infections there is no cure, although there are treatments and strategic measures that can be used to suppress them to a point of almost halting transmission.
Even the dreaded airborne Tuberculosis bacteria – which is known as history’s deadliest health challenge – has been well managed, although if merged with HIV it can yield devastating results.
But the public health sector, based on shared information, has been doing a considerably good job to combat these infections, all of which fall under the category of chronic communicable diseases.
While a grand sum is spent annually to help in this regard, the public health sector reportedly spends even more in the area of Chronic Non Communicable diseases (NCDs). This is particularly surprising, since there are many instances that NCDs can be prevented altogether.
Granted there are quite a few people who develop these diseases because of their genes or autoimmunity.
But for those who haven’t these excuses, prevention can be as simple as embracing the importance of diet while being cautious of the intake of salt, sugars and fat. Exercise, moderate consumption of alcohol, and avoiding the use tobacco as far as possible, are just as crucial in combating NCDs.
But for many of us this simply isn’t seen as important – well, usually not until we develop a condition such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke or chronic lung disease.
What we are beginning to learn is that while the public health sector offers many free services to ailing patients to treat these conditions, it can barely afford to continue along this vein.
In fact the Public Health Ministry has been deliberately cutting back in some areas in order to ensure that it has the financial capacity to reach more health-related needs. Many renal failure patients are already feeling the resulting “squeeze”.
Not so long ago, Junior Minister of Public Health, Dr. Karen Cummings, revealed that the majority of the health budget is usually plugged into the NCDs response. This is quite alarming, as it emphasises that this is a big challenge, although it can be avoided in many instances if persons take responsibility for their health.
According to Minister Cummings, since 70 percent of the national health budget is usually expended on dealing with NCDs, the Ministry is appealing to persons to adopt healthy lifestyle choices and practices at an early stage, so that they do not fall prey to NCDs later in life.
While her appeal is understandable, as a great deal of people develop NCDs when they are older, it has however been found that many young people are being diagnosed with these conditions too.
Although the public health sector has warned that the onus is on individuals to help prevent the impact of NCDs, Minister Cummings did reveal that the Ministry has been forging strategic partnerships, perhaps because of the financial strain on the sector, to help advance its NCDs response.
The Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) is among the organisations that the Ministry has been relying on for support.
According to the WHO, the four main types of NCDs are cardiovascular diseases (like heart attacks and stroke), cancers, chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma) and diabetes. These understandably are not contagious; that is, they are not transmitted from one person to another. But the WHO says they are of long duration and generally slow progression.
The WHO has also been able to deduce that NCDs already disproportionately affect low- and middle-income countries where nearly three-quarters of NCD-related deaths – 28 million – occur.
The body has also substantiated that all age groups and all regions are affected by NCDs.
“NCDs are often associated with older age groups, but evidence shows that 16 million of all deaths attributed to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) occur before the age of 70. Of these ‘premature’ deaths, 82 percent occurred in low- and middle-income countries. Children, adults and the elderly are all vulnerable to the risk factors that contribute to noncommunicable diseases, whether from unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, exposure to tobacco smoke or the effects of the harmful use of alcohol,” the WHO has indicated.
The rate at which NCDs has been infiltrating the globe begs the question whether it could in fact be graduated to a contagious phenomenon. But we all know better! In fact, on far too many occasions we have glanced at a leaflet or seen an advertisement that persuades healthy living, although the unhealthy ones outstrip these, we can opt to, in our own small way, help to improve our own health and those of our families, and possibly even prevent the extinction of the human race.
In doing so, we could be well on our way to achieving the ambitious goal of the health sector to have Guyana become the healthiest nation in the Caribbean and Latin American by 2020.
Can we do it, sure we can!
According to Minister Cummings, an informed population will make informed choices. So it can be deduced that if the population is constantly reminded of measures that can promote a healthy lifestyle, chances are, it will eventually adopt these.
Among the measures that the WHO is hoping that countries will embrace to tackle the prevalence of NCDs is a move to reduce modifiable risk factors for NCDs and underlying social determinants, through creation of health-promoting environments.
It has also recommended that efforts are made to strengthen and orient health systems to address the prevention and control of NCDs and the underlying social determinants through people-centred primary health care and universal health coverage.
Already the local health sector has been reaching out to various factions of communities across the country to impress the importance of nutrition in the quest to realize a healthy nation and, by extension, help to reduce the assault of NCDs on our people. This essentially suggests we are heading in the right direction, but sustainability of such an approach coupled with requisite adherence is left to be seen.

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