The Programme Manager, Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Control Programme of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Wallace Odiko-Ollennu, has warned that NCDs are silently killing Ghanaians, accounting for 45 per cent of all deaths in the country.
He said the diseases hide in the body and are often detected late, after complications such as heart attack or stroke have occurred.
Speaking at a seminar for Muslim leaders in Accra to co-create a faith-based healthy eating programme, he said the engagement aimed to promote healthier food choices in homes, communities and institutions; earlier screening and referral; and stronger support, including spiritual and mental health support, for people living with chronic illnesses.
The Communications Initiative for Change (CiC) under its Meatless Monday programme organised the days sensitisation that combined faith and health promotion strategies for leaders of moslem communities in Accra.
The programme was informed by the rise in non-communicable diseases among the youth across the country.
Meatless Monday, which is an initiative of CiC and is a Johns Hopkins University Centre for Communication Programme sister organisation, has for the past years been advocating for a change in the way people consume meat and is calling on people not to eat meat on Mondays to promote healthy living.
Dr Odike-Ollennu, outlining the risk factors of NCD’s, cited tobacco use, including shisha, which he said was falsely advertised as less harmful but was as harmful as cigarettes, alcohol use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity and air pollution.
On cancers, he said breast cancer and cervical cancer remained major concerns for women, and encouraged women, including mothers' groups in faith communities, to organise regular screening programmes.
Food & faith
The Executive Director of Meatless Monday, Emmanuel Fiagbey, called on Muslim leaders to partner the health sector to co-create a faith-based behaviour change communication programme to promote healthy eating and reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the country.
According to him, faith communities were critical in propagating health promotion messaging, particularly when the message was drawn from scriptural texts.
He explained that the initiative was based on a strategic alignment that combined faith principles that is what the Lord has directed on what to eat and what not to eat, with public health strategies.
He said the engagement has become urgent because of the threat NCDs pose to lives in the country, describing it as silent but alarming, with 45 per cent of every 100 deaths in the country attributed to NCDs.
He noted that scientific evidence showed eating habits were a major driver of NCDs, and that the Meatless Monday movement sought to reduce the risk and help manage conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and heart diseases by encouraging people to reduce meat consumption one day in a week, thereby improving health and reducing treatment costs.
Linking food and faith, the Executive Director said, Islamic dietary teachings emphasised not only halal, which was permissibility of what to eat, but also tayyib, which was wholesomeness and purity, as well as moderation.
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