The Minister of Health and Sanitation, Hon. Prof. Alpha Tejan Wurie has on Thursday 26th November, 2020 launched the Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) Strategic Plan, NCDs National Policy and the Sierra Leone Non-communicable Diseases Injuries and Poverty Commission (NCDI) Findings and Recommendations. The launch took place at the Hill Valley Hotel, in the west of Freetown.
Prof. Wurie in his keynote address said that the launch of the 3 NCDs document was a step in the right direction, because for far too long the health system had been focusing on communicable diseases to alleviate suffering, morbidity and deaths and paying less attention to issues around Non-communicable diseases.
Minister Wurie expressed optimism that the three documents would help attract attention to Non-Communicable Diseases, especially on screening and providing the enabling environment in addressing issues around them.
“We are here today to launch 3 documents all in an effort to address issues around NCDs and Injuries,” he said, but he added that the enabling environment for screening and managing NCDs was not readily available in most health facilities, a problem which he noted could be addressed by all stakeholders/partners.
The Hon. Minister also added that NCDs could be associated with physical body issues , genetics, the environment, urbanization, excessive alcohol intake and poverty to name but a few.
Prof. Wurie reiterated the need for robust health promotion and awareness raising on NCDs to promote the risks/dangers of NCDs to the public. He continued that NCDs are preventable, and recognized the crucial part which information and communication for changing behaviors could play in disease prevention. He also urged for attention to be given to Mental Health as the country had experienced civil unrest, an Ebola outbreak, a mudslide and now COVID-19, and added that “we all can now relate to the devastating mental issues in the country.”
He further called for huge investment on NCDs which he noted may not come from Government alone, but NGOs, UN agencies and public private partnership.
The Minister thanked partners like WHO, Partners in Health (PIH) and World Bank for their support on NCDs. He commented that there were very few partners who are magnanimous enough to provide support to the Government and people of Sierra Leone when it comes to combatting Non-communicable diseases.
While presenting the Findings and Recommendations of the NCDI Commission Report, Dr. Santigie Sesay said that the key objectives of the Sierra Leone NCDI Commission is to serve as a Multi-sector Staring Committee for the MoHS NCDS and Mental Health Directorate and to provide Strategic Planning and Policy guidance on NCDs issues and Injuries. He added that a sizable number of the country’s population is associated to either one or two conditions of NCDs.
He thanked partners for their support and called for more support and collaboration, especially from the Public and Private sectors.
The World Health Organization Country Representative (WR), Dr. Shon committed WHO’s continued support on NCDs, especially in strengthening the health system to actualize Universal Health Coverage. He advocated for more investment where the health system could not only provide services on communicable diseases but also Non-communicable diseases.
By Ibrahim Sorie Koroma
Health Education Officer-HED/MoHS
30/11/2020. ISSUE NO: 7960