More research needed for action plan

Dubai: More research is needed to create an action plan for the control and prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCD), according to Dr Mahmoud Fikri, Assistant Undersecretary of Health Policies Affairs at the Ministry of Health.

The World Health Organisation's (WHO) three-day workshop gathered experts in the region to create a regional agenda.

"Non-communicable diseases [have] four categories. They are: cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory disease," Fikri said.

As the threat of NCD increases around the world, more focus has been dir-ected towards setting the priorities of research and study for such diseases in the region.

"The associated risk factors for NCDs are physical inactivity, poor diet, smoking and obesity which people must be aware of," he said.

Preventive measure

Dr Ibtihal Fadhil, Regional Adviser in Non-Communicable Diseases for WHO, stressed the importance of modifying lifestyles as a preventive measure.

"NCDs are the end result of many factors, talking about tobacco, lifestyle, and social determinants. So we are talking about things that happen at a very young age and then will be demonstrated as a disease in the future. We have evidence already about the main causes, but there is a large gap between the evidence generated and the implementation," she said.

According to the health ministry's Fikri, NCDs represent 60 per cent of deaths worldwide. In addition cases are on the rise across the world regardless of socio-economic status, gender and age.

Those alarming factors have pushed the UN to develop a global strategy to limit the reach of the diseases.

The strategy is based on early detection and screening, good quality health care, integration of the NCDs at the primary level of intervention, and lastly the continuation of research.

Dr Fikri said the main objective for implementation is research. He said: "In this region we have to have proper data and evidence-based information. From this we can understand where to go, what the intervention should be and we can set our priorities."