EAC to tackle chronic diseases

Modern radiotherapy equipment at Clara Brathwaite Centre for Oncology and Nuclear Medicine. The burden of Malaria, HIV/Aids and Tuberculosis (TB) is still prevalent but the East African Community (EAC) is now turning its focus on non-communicable diseases which are equally life-threatening. PHOTO| AGENCY      

By Zephania Ubwani, The Citizen Reporter

In Summary

The turn to chronic diseases has its justification; the region is spending a whopping $150 million to send its people for treatment against non-communicable diseases abroad each year, of late mostly in India.

Arusha. The burden of Malaria, HIV/Aids and Tuberculosis (TB) is still prevalent but the East African Community (EAC) bloc is now turning its focus on non-communicable diseases which are equally life-threatening.

The turn to chronic diseases has its justification; the region is spending a whopping $150 million to send its people for treatment against non-communicable diseases abroad each year, of late mostly in India.

Dr Richard Sezibera, himself a medical expert, sees the new focus as a new roadmap for improving and strengthening the health sector in the region which has seen cases of chronic diseases rising in recent years.

Non-communicable diseases such as heart diseases and those related to kidney failures are new health concerns and challenges for East Africa which experts and policymakers contend “need meaningful interventions.”

The EAC boss was at a recent fifth EAC Health and Scientific Conference in Kampala where he laid bare the new challenges facing the health sector in the region and which, according to him, called for new interventions.

Since East African governments were spending about $150 million a year annually for treatment of non-communicable diseases abroad, a decision has been reached that the region should have its own treatment facilities for chronic diseases.

To begin with, four centres of excellence in heath will be established in the region by the EAC at the cost of $ 27.75 million in the first phase of the project being supported by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Kenya will host one of the centres of excellence in nephrology and urology while the cardiovascular research centre is earmarked to be set up in Tanzania.

Two other centres in oncology and biomedical engineering will be set up in Uganda and Rwanda respectively. No such centre is planned for Burundi which hosts the recently-established EAC Health Research Commission.

Nephrology is a medical science that deals with kidneys. In the context of diseases, it is concerned with diagnosis and treatment of kidney diseases such as acute kidney failures which are common these days.

Urology, on the other hand, is a branch of medicine that focuses on surgical and medical diseases of the male and female urinary track system and the male genital organs. The organs are under the domain of urology and extend to the kidneys.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels, common among them being heart disease, stroke, hypertension, rheumatic heart disease, congenital heart disease and others.