Turning the tide for NCDs
My name is Felix Limbani from Malawi. I am a Public Health professional and researcher with 13 years of experience in management of health programmes and leading health research in local and international organizations and universities. I am a PhD student with University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Public Health in South Africa. I obtained my Master’s degree in Public Health from the College of Medicine of the University of Malawi. I have led large teams in extensive community programme interventions and research in areas of maternal and child health, HIV and AIDS, sexual and reproductive health and chronic diseases. My PhD focuses on testing the effectiveness of using clinic based lay health workers in addressing the growing burden of chronic diseases. This is nested in large trial on treating hypertension in rural South Africa, funded by the UK Medical Research Council.
Why am I interested in hypertension and other chronic diseases? Why is it important to explore innovative ideas of addressing chronic diseases especially in low and middle income countries in order to contribute to meeting the SDGs on health?
Chronic diseases have strained primary health care facilities, patients and communities. Globally, non-communicable diseases account for 40 million deaths, which is 70% of all annual deaths. Non communicable diseases (NCD) are referred to as silent killers. For instance, most people are not aware that they have hypertension and very few have their blood pressure well controlled using medication. WHO has clearly noted that NCDs threaten progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes a target of reducing premature deaths from NCDs by one-third by 2030. The challenge is exacerbated by a health workforce that is overwhelmed and stressed. Globally, the health workforce had a shortfall of 7.2 million in 2013 and is expected to be 12.9 million by 2035. The situation is dire for sub-Saharan Africa. This deficit is likely to increase by increasing demand for HIV and chronic care services especially among rural and poor communities.
What are the evidence-based innovative ideas that have the potential of disturbing the growing burden of chronic diseases and what are the possible gains if these ideas are implemented? These are the questions and answers that I bring to the Unleash Lab 2017 in Denmark.
