Non communicable diseases (NCDs) such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity have become common causes of disability, death and illness and are emerging as a major public health issue in the developing countries such as Ethiopia.
Lifestyle and preventive medicine is the use of lifestyle interventions in the prevention and management of non -communicable diseases. Such interventions include diet (nutrition), exercise, stress management, tackling risk behaviours such as smoking cessation, and a variety of other non-drug modalities.
Lifestyle medicine is becoming the preferred modality for not only preventing but also for reversing most of these lifestyle related chronic diseases.
There is extremely little that is being done in regards to NCDs in developing countries. These diseases are not getting the attention they deserve. Yet they are becoming a larger and larger piece of the puzzle of public health. Thus developing countries such as Ethiopia are experiencing double burden, with “modern” diseases appearing alongside the traditional diseases of poverty.
Statistics reveal that heart attacks and strokes, once thought to be diseases of western societies, are responsible for far more deaths in developing countries than AIDS is. In the coming years, it is predicted that NCDs will be causing seven out of 10 deaths in the developing countries.
At the moment we have a very strong scientific evidence that attracting heart disease can be reduced by up to 80 percent and cancer by up to 60 percent simply by adopting a healthier lifestyle (by eating healthily, maintaining normal weight and exercising throughout life etc.) and up to 90 percent of cases of type 2 diabetes, could potentially be avoided through changing lifestyle factors.
As a matter of fact despite some differences between them and into each class NCDs have a common denominator which is the LIFESTYLE RELATED RISK FACTOR. Tobacco, Alcohol, High Blood Pressure, unhealthy diet, Physical inactivity and obesity were indicated, at different levels, as risk factors in these classes of NCDs. Thus preventive strategies must take into account the growing trend of risk factors correlated to these diseases.
Therefore developing countries like Ethiopia should simultaneously start battling the growing epidemic of lifestyle related chronic diseases while addressing communicable diseases as before.
Uurgent preventive actions are needed and efficient strategies should be developed to deal with risk factors like unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, smoking, alcohol, high blood pressure and obesity.
What is Lifestyle and Preventive Medicine?
