The capital city of Congo, Brazzaville participated in the first Africa Regional Ministerial Consultation on non-communicable diseases, where the African health ministers adopted the declaration of commitment to tackle NCDs, according to reports.

The declaration has prompted stakeholders to take serious actions in addressing NCDs and challenging health conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases, diseases of blood disorder, mental health, violence and injuries faced by the African region.

Also, nations have been asked to reorientation national health systems towards promoting and supporting healthy lifestyles of individuals, families and communities within their coverage to effectively respond to complex social, cultural and behavioral aspects associated with NCDs.

Despite the increased awareness on NCDs, it’s been reported responsible for deaths which continue to rise. Dr. Isimeli Tukana, the NCDs national adviser, has expressed the need for new initiatives to curb NCDs’ cases and related deaths, though he was not sure if the NCD cases referred to public health facilities had reduced to reflect the success of awareness efforts by the ministry.

Ministry of Finance Permanent Secretary, Filimoni Waqabaca also stated that the decrease in NCD rate in industrial nations was based on primary prevention and an effective way to fight NCD was through population wide-base primary prevention.