Remarks by WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti
Good morning, good afternoon and thank you all for joining us for this press conference.
I am very pleased to be joined by Dr Mary Amuyunzu-Nyamongo, the Executive Director of the African Institute for Health and Development in Kenya and Dr Aggrey Mweemba, the Head of Clinical Care at Levy Mwanawasa University Teaching Hospital in Zambia.
This week is the Global Week for Action on Noncommunicable Diseases, because the burden of cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases is rising in Africa and globally, yet NCDs remain the most underfunded public health issue.
The COVID-19 pandemic has reaffirmed the importance of everyone having access to needed, quality health care that they can afford. However, in African countries, although NCDs may be part of national essential packages of services, often payments for medications and treatments are made out of pocket. This means, particularly for low-income households, that NCD services can be out of reach.
When someone has a chronic disease, it is often up to their family to ensure life-long care, and partly because of late diagnosis, Africans tend to die younger of cancer and cardiovascular disease than people in other parts of the world. Preventive interventions relying on public policy and legislation need a lot more investment and work.
We know that the COVID-19 response is impacting other essential services, and NCD diagnosis and treatment is among the most frequently disrupted health services globally. In a rapid survey by WHO, 41 participating countries in the African Region reported disruptions to NCD service delivery.
This is a concern because disruptions in NCD treatment can result in death on their own, and because people living with NCDs, like diabetes and hypertension, are at greater risk of severe illness and death when infected with COVID-19.
In Kenya, for instance, 50% of COVID-19 related deaths have occurred in people living with NCDs, and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo it is as high as 85%.
Protecting people from infection, as part of COVID-19 prevention, and ensuring NCD prevention and care as part of essential services, can reduce the progression of cases to severe disease and death.
As with COVID-19, the prevention of NCDs requires multisectoral action and informed, engaged and enabled communities, backed by strong public health policy, including legislation.
More broadly, strengthening preparedness capacities in line with the International Health Regulations and health promotion in countries are both smart investments for countries to accelerate progress towards the health-related Sustainable Development Goals.
At WHO, we have developed guidance for countries on NCD prevention and management in the context of COVID-19 and are advising on strengthening NCD service availability, including through scaling-up the use of telemedicine in order to reach people and for supportive supervision among health workers at the primary care level.
Going forward, continuity of essential services remains a key pillar of the COVID-19 response. We should also use an integrated approach on risk communication and community engagement, to educate people on the dangers of discontinuing NCD treatment and on prevention measures for both COVID-19 and NCDs.
In addition to strong public health capacities, engaged communities, and action to address the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19, focusing on strengthening health systems and essential services can help societies and economies to open-up safely and we know that that’s where most countries are now.
In closing, I would like to mention a very important development in our response to COVID-19, which is our launch today with the Africa CDC of a new network of laboratories in Africa that will work on genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
This network will help us to track the evolution of the virus, to better develop vaccines and treatments tailored to African populations, and it will also help us stay a step ahead of COVID-19.
Also today, WHO is launching a high-level Facilitation Council which will support the COVID-19 Tools Accelerator and help to achieve the rapid development and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, treatment and tests. This is taking place with the support of the leaders in Africa.
Thank you very much and I look forward to our conversation today.