From Linda GNA Special Correspondent, Cape Town, South Africa Courtesy: Oxford Health Alliance/Ministry of Health

Cape Town, Nov.22, GNA - The former US Secretary of Health, Tommy Thompson, has asked nations to invest in education on the dangers of smoking to curb the upsurge of chronic diseases, which has become the world's number one killer.

He said the investment would not only be the smartest business that could make nor prevent chronic diseases but improve productivity and lower health care cost.

Mr. Thompson made the call at the opening of a three-day expert meeting on tackling the global epidemic of chronic disease in Cape Town, South Africa.

It is being attended by about 100 representatives from 40 countries world-wide including six African countries to brainstorm on how best to harness the power of the media to encourage and facilitate action on every level of society.

The former US Secretary of Health noted that 50 per cent of deaths worldwide were due to chronic diseases; respiratory, cardiovascular and diabetes and it was unfortunate that health systems attributed their inability to solve those health problems to lack of money.

"Governments should make health a priority and invest in health to save the lives of people and that will improve productivity and solve all other problems. People should not also wait till they are ill before visiting the doctor", he added.

In the middle and lower income countries, 80 per cent of deaths are due to chronic diseases, bringing a double burden to affected countries, which are already grappling with other infectious diseases and Sub-Saharan Africa is the most hit.

Mr Thompson urged people to adopt a lifestyle of walking for at last 30 minutes everyday to reduce five to 10 per cent of body weight and help reduce the instance of type two diabetes by 60 per cent. "Chunky is good but slim is better and you must start exercising now to prevent obesity".

Dr Stig Pramming, Executive Director of the Oxford Health Alliance described the problem of chronic disease as an urgent but not unsolvable which required a new approach to fight.

He said a recent report by the Alliance indicated that chronic disease would have a negative impact on the economy of many countries if the current control measures continued.

He noted that health services were still struggling to cope with the provision of acute care for infectious diseases and lacked both knowledge and resources to tackle cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and the cancers.

He said if the three risk factors: smoking, poor diet and lack of exercise were completely eliminated, 80 per cent of heart diseases, stroke and some types of diabetes would be prevented as well as 40 per cent reduction in the cancers.

"As many as 39 million premature deaths worldwide could be prevented over the next decade by addressing these three risk factors", he added.