In preparations for the forth coming high level United Nation summit on Non- Communicable Diseases scheduled to take place in New York, United States, from 16- 19 September, 2011, the Federal Government has Inaugurated a Technical Working Group to come up with patriotic, articulate and cost effective framework for the country.
While inaugurating the committee, last weekend in Abuja , the minister of Health Prof. Christian O. Onyebuchi Chukwu who is also the Chairman of the Committee said that Non- communicable Diseases are the major contributor to burden of disease in the developed countries and rapidly increase in the developing countries including Nigeria.
The diseases according to the minister include Diabetes Mellitus, Hypertension, Sickle Cell, Cancers, Heart Disease, Chronic Obstructive Airways Disease, Road Traffic/ Injuries, Mental Health asthma among others.
Prof. Chukwu also said that Non- communicable diseases account for 60 per cent of global deaths, noting that 80 percent out of those deaths occur in low- and middle –income countries.
Speaking on the MDGs, the minister said that the Millennium Development Goals set up in 2000 by United Nations has outlined target to combat infectious disease such as HIV/ AIDs , malaria and TB but did not include any reference to Non- Communicable Diseases (NCD), which means that developing countries government have no incentive in terms of international funding to deal with the diseases.
He, however, said that the UN high level summit to hold in New York would raise profile of Non-Communicable Diseases. He added that the meeting has been likened to the 2001 UN Conference on HIV/ AIDs that sparked the formation of the Global Fund to fight AIDs \ Tubercloses and Malaria, which raise billions of dollars.
The minister expressed hope that the September meeting would also raise fund for prevention and treatment of Non Communicable Diseases.
The minister called for inter sectorial collaboration between health sector and non health sector such as agriculture urban planning and Education.
In his remarks, the World Health Organization Country Representative, Dr. David Okello, said that the world was busy on AIDs, TB and Malaria (ATM) with little or no funding to Non Communicable Diseases which is number one killer. He urged for similar attention to be given to Non Communicable Diseases (NCD).
In his presentation, the president of Non communicable Diseases Alliance Dr. Sunny Kuku represented by Sani Malami, reiterated that NCD is the leading killer disease globally.
Also, a representative of Kanu Heart Foundation Dr. Kingsley Akinroye, attributed the prevalence of Non communicable diseases to lack of funding from global agenda.?