Victoria Falls (New Ziana)-The Zimbabwe government has taken various initiatives to combat non-communicable which are creating an increasing burden on the country`s health delivery system, an official said on Wednesday.
Health and Child Care deputy Minister Dr John Mangwiro during the 2nd Africa Regional National Communicable Diseases Conference held in Victoria Falls.
The Conference was held under the theme: “NCD Prevention, surveillance and management to achieve SDG3 in the context of covid 19 and other health emergencies.”
NCDs include cancer, sugar diabetes and blood pressure.
Mangwiro said it was sad that NCDs were leading causes of death globally with 15 million people between the ages 30 to 70 dying globally every year.
“This is even though these NCDs are preventable and despite the fact that the NCDs are now studied and understood. With the right policy for NCD prevention and treatment this increasing trend can be reversed,” he said.
He said the Covid-19 pandemic had made it difficult for NCD patients to access screening, diagnosis and treatment services.
“Despite these challenges, the government of Zimbabwe has placed various initiatives to combat NDCs. Government continues to strengthen to ensure better survival of people living with NCDs,” he said.
Dr Mangwiro said the government had also made efforts to ensure that the country was on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG`s) target through combating NCDs.
He said to achieve this, the government was also providing blood and blood products for free in public hospitals as blood was an essential requirement for cancer therapy patients.
“Zimbabwe is one of the 1st countries in Africa to carry out Human Papilloma virus vaccination among girls between 10-14 years. This has been adopted in the Zimbabwe Immunisation Programme and will protect girls against developing cervical cancer later in their lives,” he said.
The government had worked tirelessly in solidarity with global efforts to manage Covid-19 pandemic as it posed a great danger to patients including those with NCDs, he said.
Mangwiro said his Ministry was capacitating primary health care centres to integrate NCDs and mental health through training, procurement of equipment and NCD medicines.
“Treatment of elderly, pregnant women and children under the age of five is free of charge. We are also developing our five-year mental health investment case and currently working on updating our cancer control plan.
“For children suffering from cancer they are dedicated wards at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals and Mpilo in collaboration with Kids Care Zimbabwe.”
He commended the NCD Federation for organising the conference, saying it helped in bringing practitioners, academics, researchers and policy makers together.
New Ziana
