NCDs on the rise over 50 years - Doctors urge moderate calorie, salt intake

Cases of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have been increasing fast over the last 50 years.

They come in the form of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, stroke and chronic kidney disease.

A former President of the Ghana Kidney Association, Dr Dwomoa Adu, who disclosed this, named the factors responsible for these to include an increase in calorie and salt intake, which he said were driving diabetes and hypertension cases, which in turn were driving stroke and kidney failures.

"So we need to go back and look at our diet; we need to reduce our salt and calorie intake.

Over the last 50 years, more Ghanaians are obese and this might be because they are eating more salt, which drives NCDs," he said. 

Dr Adu, who is a nephrologist, said that in a lecture on the theme: "Rising epidemic of non-communicable diseases in Ghana: a ticking time bomb", at the third Professor Jacob Plange-Rhule Memorial Lecture in Accra last Wednesday. 

Context

The late Prof. Plange-Rhule was a former Rector of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons and a pioneering member of the Ghana Kidney Association. He died in 2020.

As a renal specialist, his research activities in renal and cardiovascular diseases served as groundbreaking interventions for other medical specialists to follow.

The lecture, which was organised by World Child Cancer (WCC) in collaboration with the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons, was in honour of his contributions to the fight towards childhood oncology, including introducing a programme in that area at the college. 

Dr Adu said the impact of those chronic diseases on the nation was a high death rate, pointing out that it would be difficult for the nation to manage all the increases.

He said the human costs of NCDs were immense with almost every family in the country either knowing or having somebody who was suffering from stroke or kidney failure. 

Control

On how to control the increase in calorie foods and salt intake in the country, Dr Adu said Ghana could legislate to increase taxes on foods or drinks that had a lot of calories and salt, as well as insist on a death warning to be placed on labels of such products.

High salt intake

The Vice Rector of the college, Dr Henry Lawson, urged Ghanaians to eat well, as well as also take salt in moderation.

During an open forum, many medical specialists took turns to express their concern about the high intake of salts among the public, pointing out that there were high concentrations of salt in canned foods and seasonings.

They, therefore, called for improved regulations to curb their use.

They also stressed the need for increased education at the local level on the need for people to reduce their intake of such products.

The WCC Regional Coordinator for Sub-Saharan Africa, Emmanuel Ayire Adongo, said the vision of WCC was to ensure that children with childhood cancers got quality care to improve their quality of life and survival, as well as allow them to live to their developmental potential.

WCC, he said, became associated with the late Prof. Plange-Rhule after he accepted its proposal to run the childhood oncology programme at the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons.

He said the late professor also dedicated his energy and resources to run the programme until his death.

“He is one of the pacesetters in establishing a very good programme in Ghana, which the whole of West Africa and Africa will benefit from, and that is why we decided to set up a memorial in his honour," he explained.