Imported foods driving spread of NCDs, Makgato says
Pini Bothoko | Thursday April 27, 2017 14:29
The Minister said she recently banned the sale of some of these food items after studies showed them to be unhealthy and risky when consumed.
Speaking at a public lecture at the University of Botswana, Makgato said NCDs had surpassed HIV/AIDS as the greatest public health threat facing Botswana today.
“The bulk of what leads to NCDs in this country are imports from other countries,” she said.
“Some of these are protected by trade agreements and we need strategic engagement with business and trading partners on policy in order to protect health while not interfering with trade.”
Makgato said NCDs such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes were increasing in Botswana. She said these conditions were also driven by risky lifestyle choices such as unhealthy diets, tobacco use, excessive alcohol consumption and physical inactivity. “The majority of unhealthy foods that are sold in Botswana are imported from other countries. They pose risks to people ‘s health, thus contributing to the spread of NCDs,” Makgato said.
The Minister said there was lack of awareness of NCDs, as a significant number of Batswana experienced signs and symptoms without knowing what to do. Makgato encouraged members of the public to exercise, look at the kinds of foods they eat and to opt for healthy foods as in recent years many people had lost their lives to NCDs.
She said in 2008, a panel commissioned by the World Health Organisation (WHO) defined or characterised the social determinants of health as “conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, age and the systems put in place to deal with illness.”
“This includes all facets of our lives and therefore policies and operational frameworks across all sectors need to identify and address their own impact on health, positive or negative,” Makgato said.
She said the positive impact needs to be accentuated whereas negative impact needs to be mitigated.
Makgato said some of the most important and broad determinants include food, water, infrastructure, education, income, environment, trade, mobility, to mention but a few.
“As these are spread across Government sectors, we are vigorously pursuing an all-Government and all-of-society approach with a deliberate health outlook in all policies,” Makgato said.
Makgato disclosed that they have good policies, but many of them may need to be strengthened and harmonised so that they are comprehensive, talk to each other and are responsive to current and emerging issues.
“For example, continued droughts have made food security a serious health concern and the recent floods have made disease outbreaks and emergency services a major area of concern.
She added: “Road traffic crashes continue to increase the burden of NCDs and education and health literacy levels continue to influence unhealthy behaviour whereas travel exposes people to communicable and emerging diseases and disparities in services”.