Yesterday, I wrote about the meeting between the Chinese State Councillor, Mr.Wang YI and Minister Jeremiah Manele, Solomon Islands Foreign Minister on the sidelines of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly held in New York.
At the conclusion of that meeting, it was reported that both sides agreed to strengthen bilateral and multilateral cooperation in such areas as agriculture, policing, education and fishing, and promote projects such as the athletes’ village for the Pacific Games as well as Solomon Islands’ national hospital facilities.
The prospects for Chinese help in either building a replacement National Referral Hospital (NRH) or a medical complex of suitable size, well equipped, and able to deal effectively with the Solomon Islands crisis of stemming and overcoming Non communicable diseases (NCDs) to me looks dim.
The fact is that NCDs need to dealt with immediately
Socioeconomic impact
In the Solomon Islands NCDs threaten progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes a target of reducing the probability of death from any of the four main NCDs between ages 30 and 70 years by one third by 2030.
Poverty is closely linked with NCDs. The rapid rise in NCDs is predicted to impede poverty reduction initiatives.
Vulnerable and socially disadvantaged people get sicker and die sooner than people of higher social positions, especially because they are at greater risk of being exposed to harmful products, such as tobacco, or unhealthy dietary practices, and have limited access to health services.
Burden on the NRH
The NRH is grossly overburdened with NCD cases, which include
· Cardiovascular diseases account, followed by cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes including kidney disease deaths caused by diabetes.
· These four groups of diseases account for over 80% of all premature NCD deaths.
· Tobacco use, physical inactivity, the harmful use of alcohol and unhealthy diets all increase the risk of dying from an NCD.
· A lack of detection, screening and treatment of NCDs, as well as palliative care, components.
In the Solomon Islands today it is fair to say there are no screening programmes or palliative care facilities for serious end of life cases.
Overview
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), also known as chronic diseases, tend to be of long duration and are the result of a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental and behavioural factors.
The main types of NCD are cardiovascular diseases (such as heart attacks and stroke), cancers, chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma) and diabetes.
NCDs disproportionately affect people in low- and middle-income groups in the Solomon Islands and especially given the very poor ratio of functioning and accessible health clinics in the rural areas.
People at risk
People of all age groups, regions and lifestyles are affected by NCDs. These conditions are often associated with older age groups, but evidence shows that 17 million NCD deaths occur before the age of 70 years.
.Children, adults and the elderly are all vulnerable to the risk factors contributing to NCDs, whether from unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, and exposure to tobacco smoke or the harmful use of alcohol.
Unhealthy diets and a lack of physical activity may show up in people as raised blood pressure, increased blood glucose, elevated blood lipids and obesity. These are called metabolic risk factors and can lead to cardiovascular disease, the leading NCD in terms of premature deaths.
Risk factors
Modifiable behavioural risk factors
Modifiable behaviours, such as tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet and the harmful use of alcohol, all increase the risk of NCDs.
Metabolic risk factors
Metabolic risk factors contribute to four key metabolic changes that increase the risk of NCDs:
· raised blood pressure;
· overweight/obesity;
· hyperglycemia (high blood glucose levels); and
· hyperlipidemia (high levels of fat in the blood).
In terms of attributable deaths, the leading metabolic risk factor globally is elevated blood pressure (to which 19% of global deaths are attributed) (1), followed by raised blood glucose and overweight and obesity.
Prevention and control
An important way to control NCDs is to focus on reducing the risk factors associated with these diseases. Low-cost solutions exist for governments and other stakeholders to reduce the common modifiable risk factors. Monitoring progress and trends of NCDs and their risk is important for guiding policy and priorities.
To lessen the impact of NCDs on individuals and society, a comprehensive approach is needed requiring all sectors, including health, finance, transport, education, agriculture, planning and others, to collaborate to reduce the risks associated with NCDs, and to promote interventions to prevent and control them.
Socioeconomic impact
NCDs threaten progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes a target of reducing the probability of death from any of the four main NCDs between ages 30 and 70 years by one third by 2030.
Vulnerable and socially disadvantaged people get sicker and die sooner than people of higher social positions, especially because they are at greater risk of being exposed to harmful products, such as I have already mentioned, such as tobacco, or unhealthy dietary practices, and have limited access to health services.
Comment
During the height of the Covid-19 crisis in China, the Chinese PRC Government tackled the pandemic by building a huge hospital facility almost overnight to admit and treat Covid patients,
While the situation the Solomon Islands does not demand such a response to a health crisis in relation to Covid-19, there is, in my view, the urgent need to step in and to do everything possible to stem NCDs, and I have outlined in which areas.
In the time it will take to build a replacement NRH, or a multi-purpose medical centre, assuming a suitable ground site can be found, free of legal impediments, squatters and the intrusion of sea water, then it is likely that many, many more Solomon Islanders will have succumbed to NCDs, many may have lost their lives because of the complications of NCDS, and one cannot say just how the existing NRH and its staff compliment of doctors, nurses and ancillary support staff will cope
China (PRC) is just one of the existing diplomatic partners of the Solomon Islands but all, in my take very seriously the threat to lives NCDs poses now and how the threat of NCDs must be addressed with practical means as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
