Non-communicable diseases are lifestyle and non-transferable – Dr. Baffour Awuah

Chief Programmes Officer, Medical and Dental at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Baffour Awuah says globally non-communicable disease kills many, and 71% of these deaths occur in low middle income countries, including Ghana. He said non-communicable diseases are lifestyle diseases that are not transferable.

He added that even in Ghana for the past 5 years, non-communicable diseases and mortality are on the increase and about 19-21% of Ghana’s population has non-communicable diseases.

He said everybody is at risk because some communicable diseases are silent killers, “when they are developing initially you don’t feel anything in the body, by the time you realize it has become a trench in the body”.

In an interview on the GTV Breakfast Show, Dr. Awuah said, “The Ministry of Health is promoting awareness clinics and in the course of time with the passage of the NCD Policy, we will institutionalize it so it becomes part and parcel of our daily routine”.

“We are mounting an advocacy that you don’t need to feel something in the body before you go to the hospital for checkups”.

He said, the major factors of non-communicable diseases are smoking and the harmful use of alcohol.

In addition, “When one develops non-communicable diseases it’s chronic and once it’s diagnosed you carry that condition for the rest of your life”.

To prevent these communicable diseases, one has to go for regular checkups, exercise regularly and eat healthy foods.