By Arret Jatta
Today 7 April recognised globally as World Health Day, to remind the globe of the importance of health awareness and the persistent challenges that many communities face.
In The Gambia, various health conditions continue to impact the lives of its citizens, from infectious diseases to non-communicable ailments and this year’s observance highlights the urgent need for improved healthcare access, education, and resources to tackle these pressing issues head-on.
According to a survey published by WHO in 2023, Gambia has a high burden of communicable and non-communicable disease (NCDs), with the latter making up 37% of deaths in 2019.
The communicable diseases identified are malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDs and neglected tropical diseases while the non-communicable diseases identified are cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, cancer and diabetes.
Dr Muhammed Lamin Touray a medical doctor and medicine specialist at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital told The Standard that the country faces a rising tide of non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.
“These are often silent until complications emerge such as heart attack, kidney failure and stroke leading to disability or death. The underlying causes include unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, poor stress management and limited health education,” he said,.
Dr Touray added that while efforts have been made to expand access and infrastructure, the response to the growing burden of non-communicable diseases remains limited, adding that referral centres are overwhelmed with complications that could have been prevented at the primary level.
“The Gambia needs to return to the foundational principles of the 1980s when the country’s commitment to primary health care earned global admiration,” he asserted.
He also noted that people’s lifestyle choices, contributes to their chances of getting non communicable diseases like hypertension, diabetes, heart failure, kidney failure and stroke.
“Promoting health education in schools, work places and communities is essential in combating this problem, by reviving the preventive focus on our health system, individuals will be better informed and supported to adopt healthy habits early in life and maintain them over time,” he added.
He also highlighted the barriers they are facing in the quality health care in The Gambia.
“The barriers include limited access to primary health care services, financial constraints, insufficient health education, and stigma around orthodox medication and health systems and most rural communities lack functioning health care units forcing patients to wait until complications arise before seeking care,” he said.
He also advised individuals to take their health seriously by living a healthy lifestyles such as eating healthy, exercising, managing stress and avoiding smoking or drinking alcohol and know their health status and go for regular checkups.
