By Asmau Ahmad
The Kenyan Ministry of Health on Wednesday said it has developed targeted interventions to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases that were linked to a higher toll of COVID-19 fatalities.
“We have come up with interim guidelines to prevent and manage non- communicable diseases in the light of the pandemic,” Cabinet Secretary for Health Mutahi Kagwe told a virtual forum on the nexus between lifestyle diseases and COVID-19 held in Nairobi, Kenya.
He said the government has put robust measures in place to facilitate the seamless provision of care to patients with chronic diseases and shield them from the risk of contracting and succumbing to Coronavirus.
Kagwe said the ministry has implemented interventions including adequate funding, training of health workers, public awareness and timely diagnosis to strengthen the response to non-communicable diseases like diabetes and hypertension.
The ministry of health data also shows that non-communicable diseases account for 50 per cent of hospital admissions and 42 per cent of deaths in Kenya. Kagwe said that urbanisation, environmental pollution, and sedentary lifestyles have escalated the non-communicable disease crisis in Kenya amid strain on household budgets and public health infrastructure.
Also speaking, Ephantus Maree, head of the Non-communicable Diseases Unit in the Ministry of Health, said chronic ailments have accounted for about 43 per cent of COVID deaths since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020.
He said that investments in research, surveillance and screening at the community level are key to reducing the burden of non-communicable diseases in Kenya.
