Africa-Press – Botswana. Health practitioners have been urged to walk the talk and change their mindset to fight chronic health diseases which are increasingly becoming a global health threat.
Speaking during health fitness activities held at Tsabong Village Development Community grounds on Saturday, Kgalagadi South District Health Management Team coordinator, Ms Gaboelwe Rammekwa said health workers must lead from the front to combat Non- Communicable Diseases (NCDs).
She said leading inactive lifestyles contributed tremendously to the increase in NCDs hence the need to transform to a physically intensive lifestyle to reduce the risk factors.
She highlighted that the risk factors were poor diet, lack of exercise, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption as well as stress.
She warned that the rise of statistics on NCDs affected the global socio-economic balance hence the need for health workers to walk the talk.
Ms Rammekwa noted that NCDs were lifestyle diseases and therefore taking medication to control NCDs after a diagnosis could be life-threatening.
“The more pills you are taking, the higher the ris, hence the need to adopt a healthier lifestyle to combat NCDs,” she said.
She advised that it was important to change one’s lifestyle through healthy eating.
She emphasised that physical activity was important for relieving stress, strengthening body muscles, and improving physical fitness, as well as reduction of body fat.
Kgalagadi South DHMT coordinator appreciated the health care workers, different government departments and members of the community for taking part in the sporting activities which she served as a wellness activity to bring people together.
The activities included a five kilometre walk in the morning, aerobics, football, netball, volleyball as well as health screenings, and HIV testing.
For his part chief medical officer, Dr Thato Sarona said the main objective of the day was to fight against NCDs such as cardiovascular diseases like heart attacks and stroke, cancer, chronic respiratory disease, mental disorders and diabetes which were the leading causes of deaths worldwide and represented an emerging global health threat.
In an interview, Botswana Defense Force (BDF) Tsabong District task force commander, Lt colonel, Kebalepile Besimia said they had brought soldiers in good numbers to participate in the fitness activity as it was important for them to be part of the campaign against NCDs.
He said while their mandate was to combat crime and cross-border crime in the district they also have a responsibility to interact with the community through sporting activities and other activities.
He said BDF had some specialties such as aerobics, and physical training instructors which enabled them to reach out better to the community and assist with such expertise.
“The event is very important because it speaks to the importance of physical fitness and, mental and physical growth. When someone is physically fit he can think better, stress levels get suppressed and have their blood pressure normalized,” he said.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), NCDs are responsible for 74 per cent of all deaths worldwide where more than three-quarters of them and 86 per cent of the 17 million people die prematurely before reaching the age of 70 years.
Most of them occur in low and middle-income countries.
World Health Organization states that the epidemic of NCDs poses devastating health consequences for individuals, families, and communities and threatens to overwhelm health systems.
The socio-economic costs associated with NCDs make the prevention and control of these diseases a major development imperative for the 21st century.
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