By Bishop Witmos
Partners in Health, in conjunction with UNICEF, has constructed and handed over a Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Clinic at Mangochi District Health Office (DHO) to improve healthcare services for patients with illnesses such as diabetes, mental illness, epilepsy, and heart disease.
Speaking during the handover ceremony over the weekend, Secretary for Health Dr. Dan Namarika said NCDs are a public health concern in Malawi, affecting both children and adults.
Dr. Namarika urged Malawians to develop a habit of seeking medical attention even when feeling well.
“We are seeing a rise in the occurrence of non-communicable diseases, such as hypertension, heart diseases, mental illness, diabetes, and cancer. For instance, currently one in every three adults has hypertension, while five percent of our adults have diabetes,” he said.
He added: The challenge with some of these diseases is that during early stages, patients do not have any symptoms. As they do not know they are sick, they do not seek medical care.
To address the problem, we are calling upon Malawians to develop a habit of seeking medical attention even when they are not sick.
Dr. Namarika noted that, in addition to infrastructure development, Partners in Health and UNICEF also supply medications for NCDs to some health facilities across the country.
In his remarks, NCD and Mental Health Director at Partners in Health, Dr. Brown Khongo, said the organisation has supported the Ministry of Health in training more than 300 staff members on managing NCDs.
Partners in Health, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, supports infrastructure development, mentorship of staff on non-communicable diseases, and procurement of supplies such as equipment and medicines, he said.
Khongo added: So far, we have supported the ministry in districts such as Mangochi, Salima, Karonga, Ntchisi, and Rumphi. Through this support, we are seeing high prospects for improved healthcare services for non-communicable diseases.
