Mams Omisore
Sep 5, 2018 · 2 min read

The future of NCDs?

I believe the children are our future.

Teach them well and let them lead the way…

People in Africa living with any of the four commonest non-communicable diseases (NCDs): heart disease, diabetes, cancers and chronic lung diseases will more than double by 2030. By 2030, the number of children in Africa under 18 will rise from 496 million to more than 661 million. Our NCD sufferers of tomorrow are our children of today.

The future of NCDs therefore lies squarely in the hands of Africa’s youth especially when it has been demonstrated that well recognised associated risk factors such as tobacco smoking, harmful use of alcohol, poor diet and physical inactivity begin in childhood and are firmly established by adulthood. If we are to make any headway in turning the tide on the rise of NCDs, strategies to encourage the right behaviour choices should begin early in our lives. More importantly, choosing right early on in life is cheaper on the pocket; the costs of these risk factors and eventually needing to treat an NCD (or 2 or 3 or more) can cost an individual up to 70% of their income over a lifetime with the poorest being most vulnerable to such catastrophic expenditure.

So, the sooner we start spreading the word the better; and why not start at school? Health literacy — the ability to process health related information so individuals can make the right choices in relation to their health delivered in schools is of poor quality, inconsistent or non-existent. Added to this, there is an under-appreciation of the valuable role that health literate children can play in improving community health knowledge by spreading the messages through peers and families. Working with children in this way has been used to great effect in hand hygiene practice, use of malaria bed-nets and improving family diet choices.

Whilst laudable efforts are targeting policies, strategies and plans to ensure NCDs begin to take centre stage in global health; all that high-level thinking must not leave the little people behind. The approaches we take now must be sensitive to children’s perceptions and perspectives about their own health as well as those around them and what that will mean for their future. There should be a concerted push to improve on health education strategies that engage families over the life-course. Sowing the seeds of NCD preventive thinking as a way of life ensures that children grow into enabled and empowered adults who will seek to design a world that promotes an NCD-free life; a world that in effect promotes a coherence with its environment — healthy cities, gender equality, sustainable consumption, inclusivity. All key components of the sustainable development goals.

Sources: WHO, UNICEF, World Bank, Save the Children