Checking lifestyles will control upsurge in diseases

Last Thursday the Minister of Health, Mr Alex Segbefia, said about four million Ghanaians had been identified as living with diabetes, with 34 per cent of them dying every year.

Even more disturbing is the assertion by the President of the National Diabetes Association of Ghana, Ms Elizabeth Esi Denyoh, that three out of every nine Ghanaians live with diabetes. This means that diabetes has now surpassed even known widespread diseases such as malaria.

While the figure may be very alarming, the Daily Graphic believes that non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, which were hitherto not prevalent in Ghana, have all virtually become part of us because of the lifestyles people have adopted.

We agree with Mr Segbefia’s call for us to intensify our efforts in tackling diabetes and other non-communicable diseases affecting the health of Ghanaians.

However, that can only be done effectively if we discard our mostly acquired unhealthy lifestyles, especially in relation to the kind of food we eat.

The youth mainly have been caught up in a web of foreign tastes, where our local foods are no more an attraction. They prefer to eat fast foods referred to as junk food, such as French fries, fried rice, chicken and various types of meat, burgers and pizzas, rather than local dishes such as plantain and ‘kontomire’ commonly referred to as palava sauce.

Almost all the fast foods are fatty and, therefore, their continuous consumption only means a pile-up of fat in the body to the detriment of other nutrients needed by the body.

What makes the situation even more precarious is the fact that the nature of work and the daily routine of ‘work, home and sleep’ does not allow many people to engage in physical exercises, which would enable the burning of excess fat in the body.

Even our locally produced foods are now low in quality due to the sometimes excessive use of inorganic fertiliser to grow our vegetables and the use of pesticides to ward off insect pests from crops.

The poultry and livestock industry has also suffered a downturn, resulting in most people now depending on imported frozen chicken, meat and other dairy products. 

President Dramani Mahama could not have said it better in an address to commemorate the 2016 World Diabetes Day in Accra last Thursday, when he said that although Ghana had made progress in coming up with policies and strategies to tackle diabetes and other chronic diseases, there was still more to be done, due to the increasing trend.

We think that the strategies to tackle diabetes and other lifestyle diseases do not only include highly subsidised treatment for people suffering from diabetes under the National Health Insurance Scheme and free services at clinics for diabetic patients.

Indeed we call for more education of the public on the prevention and control of diabetes and other non-communicable diseases. This must not come only from personnel of the Ghana Health Service.

We all need to educate ourselves on the harmful effects of poor living, including poor dieting, physical inactivity, the lack of rest, alcohol abuse and smoking on the human body, so that we live healthy lives.

We also join the call to the Ministry of Health and the government to subsidise the high cost of glucometers and strips for self-monitoring of blood glucose, as well as other health equipment and items that are imported into the country, to assist in the effective policing of diseases in the country.

The Daily Graphic also calls on the World Health Organisation (WHO) to support the country to deal with not only diabetes which brings in its wake other diseases, but also all other non-communicable diseases that are taking a toll on Ghanaians.