Non-communicable diseases account for 45% of deaths in Ghana — Study

A nationwide survey on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) has revealed that the diseases are responsible for about 45 per cent of all deaths in the country, with cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes being the leading contributors.

Also, the survey identified unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, tobacco use, and harmful alcohol consumption as the primary risk factors for NCDs in the country.

Conducted in all 16 regions and 385 communities among 5,438 participants aged between 18 and 69, the survey highlighted the fact that these risk factors are intensified by urbanisation, lifestyle changes and limited access to healthcare services.

It, however, emphasised that it would take comprehensive strategies to tackle these issues and reduce the NCDs burden in Ghana.

Using the World Health Organisation's STEPwise approach and tools, the data from this survey was collected by the Ministry of Health (MoH), Ghana Health Service (GHS), Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and their development partners.

The rationale for a nationwide survey in Ghana was to reduce exposure to risk factors that contribute to NCDs, strengthen early detection and management to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with NCDs and strengthen the health system for NCD prevention and control.

Findings

The findings of the survey were presented during the dissemination and launch of the 2023 National Survey Report for Ghana in Accra last Thursday.

Present at the meeting were the Director, Technical Coordination Directorate, Ministry of Health, Alhaji Hafez Adam Taher; the Officer In Charge, WHO Ghana, Dr Frank John Lule; the Director, Public Health, GHS, Dr Franklin Asiedu Bekoe; the Technical Advisor to the Minister of Health, Dr Darius Osei, and the Health Advisor, FCDO Ghana, Dr Dominic Farrell.

Never checked

Leading the presentation, the Principal Investigator, Dr Dennis Odai Laryea, expressed worry that 24.3 per cent of Ghanaians had never had their blood pressure checked even though it was one of the easiest and cheapest procedures.

He said the figure consisted of 33.8 per cent of men and 14.7 per cent of women who had never checked their blood pressure.

As far as raised blood pressure is concerned, the study found 17.3 per cent in men and 22.0 per cent in women.

It showed more than half of people with high blood pressure were not aware of their condition, while 24 per cent were aware but were untreated.

“The most worrying issue is the proportion of people who are unaware that their blood pressure is high, which was also found in a previous demographic and health survey,” Dr Laryea said.

Other results

Other findings included low levels of physical activity for health, especially among women; low levels of vigorous and recreational physical activity among the adult population, overweight and obesity being common among adults, the prevalence of diabetes among males and females.

Others were most adults have never had a blood cholesterol test and more females than males having a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.

“The younger (18-29 years) and older (60-69 years) age groups did less mean number of minutes of total physical activity on average per day than the middle age group (30-59 years), according to the survey.”

The rest are low screening for cervical cancer; daily cleaning of teeth with a high proportion of the population with natural teeth; a high proportion of the population has never accessed dental services; a significant proportion of the population having some level of depression and females more likely to consider or attempt suicide.

He encouraged the populace to engage more in recreational activity such as dancing, a good form of physical exercise, emphasising that the average minutes of recreational activity per day was 12.6 minutes, which was woefully inadequate.

WHO STEPwise Approach

The WHO STEPS Survey is one of the good tools for evidence generation as far as looking at issues surrounding NCDs are concerned. Ghana did one in 2006 but it was a sub-national survey and it was only in the Greater Accra Region, which was not very representative of the entire country.