From: Linda Asante Agyei, GNA Special Correspondent, Cape Town. Courtesy: Ministry of Health/Oxford Health Alliance

Cape Town, Nov. 23, GNA - African governments should invest at least six per cent of their annual budget on health to prevent the current soaring rate of chronic diseases especially among the youth. This is because the consequences of chronic diseases may have enormous impact on the micro economy of African nations if they do not start paying serious attention to aspects of diseases, Professor Jean-Claude Mbanya, Vice President of the International Diabetes Federation, said in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Cape Town on Wednesday on the fringes of the Fourth Oxford Health Alliance Health annual summit, currently underway in the South African city. The three-day summit, organized by the Oxford Health Alliance, in collaboration with the South African Medical Research Council, is being attended by some 100 experts from 40 countries world-wide, who are expected to brainstorm on, 93Health in Transition: Working Together and the Developing World as well as Prevention of Chronic Diseases.=94 The meeting is aimed at generating ideas, provoking dialogue and formulating action for a truly global approach to the challenge of chronic diseases.

Prof. Mbanya noted that a few years ago, chronic diseases such as diabetes, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases were not part of Africans, 93but things have changed due to our change in lifestyles by adopting the lifestyles of the west=94. He said chronic diseases were traditionally considered as =93diseases for the affluence=94 that affected only the elderly and the wealthy but argued that chronic diseases and their related risk factors posed a significant burden on also the poor as well as the working class.

Prof. Mbanya said chronic diseases accounted for the greatest share of early deaths and disabilities worldwide adding that the situation for the next few decades would rise fast in developing countries if research on their economic implications, coupled with the available knowledge on the sheer epidemiological burden, were not done. Recent World Health Organisation (WHO) projections show that chronic diseases will be the biggest contributor to mortality in low-income countries before 2015 and in terms of Disability-Adjusted Life Year Before 2030.

Prof Mbanya called for Africans to avoid western lifestyles of eating junk food but rather they should eat African foods, which are full in fibre, in addition to exercising more frequently and staying away from smoking.

=93It is unfortunate that our schools these days have no play grounds for children and they come back home spending so much time watching television after having their meals, whilst in the olden days we were walking miles to and from schools.

He called for the stepping up of awareness and national programmes to engage the youth especially in physical activity and to direct them to make good choices of food.

=93It is now urgently important to change mindsets, policies and behaviours and implement strategies that will support prevention at every level of society. Unless we do so, the burden of chronic diseases is likely to overwhelm even wealthy societies and undermine the hard-won gains in the world's developing regions.

=93Future generations would hold us accountable if we are passive, despite knowing what we should be doing to safeguard the future,=94 Prof Mbanya cautioned. 23 Nov. 06