TERESA MAGESA, who lives in Mukuru, a slum in the south of Nairobi, did not realise for years that she had type 2 diabetes. “I was always feeling that I was carrying a burden”, she says. But despite her frequent headaches and dizziness, diabetes, she thought, was a disease for “fat people”. Only in her late middle-age did she begin to learn she needed to manage her blood sugar and to eat a more balanced diet.
Historically, non-infectious diseases such as diabetes, cancer or asthma have been more prevalent in the rich world than the poor. But that is changing. Infectious diseases, though still an enormous problem, are on the wane. Across Africa, the mortality rate from malaria has fallen by more than half since 2000. That is an amazing achievement. Chronic diseases, by contrast, are becoming more common. According to the World Health Organisation, of 16m people between the ages of 30 and 70 who die each year from such diseases, fully 82% live in the developing world. In Kenya they account for 27% of all premature deaths.
The rise of chronic diseases in the poor world is a product of growing wealth and urbanisation. Whereas...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/1WtX4LH
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