– The World Health Organization supports São Tomé and Príncipe in validating the Protocols for the prevention and management of cases of non-communicable diseases in primary health care.
Non-communicable diseases are all types of illnesses that are not transmitted from person to person, such as cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, diabetes, cancer and others.
The act of validation and subsequent implementation of the protocols will mark the turning point in terms of the system of services and treatment in health posts, health centers and hospitals in the country, with the adoption of new procedures and techniques for tracking, diagnosing, treating and forwarding the different cases of non-communicable diseases.
Organized as part of a joint workshop, the event was attended by the Minister of Health, Dr. Edgar Neves, and the WHO Representative, Dr. Anne Ancia.
In recent years, non-communicable diseases have been gaining ground in the country, with the change in the population’s lifestyle, and in 2018 they already represented 55% of the causes of mortality nationwide, and 70% of all admissions to the Ayres Hospital de Menezes.
The validation of these protocols will allow preventive actions to reduce risk factors that have caused great suffering to the population with regard to non-communicable diseases.
Addressing the event’s attendees, the WHO Representative congratulated the government on its adherence to the WHO Package for Essential Non-Communicable Disease (NSP) Interventions for Primary Health Care in resource-constrained country settings.
Dr. Anne Ancia ensured that this adherence sets an important milestone in shifting the paradigm, placing the focus on non-communicable diseases, an integrated approach to diseases with an emphasis on strengthening primary health care and bringing health closer to health. people, – we were quoting.
The health minister who presided over the act, in turn, said that the data that have been reaching his ministry indicate that there will be a rapid increase in non-communicable diseases if preventive measures are not reinforced.
Dr. Edgar Neves lamented the fact that as São Tome and Principe begins to make progress in treating infectious diseases and reaping the economic benefits of that effort, it becomes increasingly vulnerable to non-communicable diseases.
The application of the new protocols for non-communicable diseases will be carried out in a pilot project at the level of the districts of Água-Grande, Mé-Zochi and Lembá, and will be ensured in the context of the United Nations program of Sustainable Development Goals in the social protection component to vulnerable families.
The World Health Organization hopes that this pilot project will obtain results that can lead to its expansion at the national level, thus translating into a joint effort to implement universal health coverage, which is currently an ambitious plan to improve the health condition of the people. of São Tomé and Príncipe.
Source: World Health Organization. Africa