14 Sep 2014

Batswana have been urged to live healthy lifestyles to elude lifestyle diseases that are taking toll in the health system despite intensive health information dissemination.

Speaking during Rolong land board wellness day and open day recently, Mr Jonathan Mashala, a medical doctor from Goodhope Primary Hospital said chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and cancer are of a great concern but he said the diseases could be reduced and prevented.

He noted that people should avoid eating too much unrefined sugar that he said it causes diabetes and should also adhere to prescriptions given by health advisors.

Dr Mashala urged people that, when diagnosed with diabetes, immediately they should start on taking medication and said it is a “lifetime thing”, so they should not stop it to avoid complications such as poor vision and destruction of internal organs such as kidneys and heart which he said will be difficult to treat a patient while at that stage.

Moreover, he encouraged women to do Pap smear for cancer screening purposes.

He said those who are HIV positive should repeat the test after 3 years whereas those who are HIV negative should repeat the test after five years.

Dr Mashala added that, women should also ensure that they touch their breast every day to check if they are any lumps on the breast.

“It should become a daily routine, when you feel something unusual or experience any discharges, you must rush to the nearest health facility” he cautioned.

He also encouraged men to circumcise as he said safe male circumcision reduces the chance of getting infected by HIV/AIDS by 60 percent.

“However, after circumcision you should continue using condoms, stick to one partner, if you fail, abstinence is the solution” he said.

Moreover, he pleaded with the community to shun away myths regarding surgery that involves drawing water drawn from the patient’s spine.

He explained that the surgery is tolerable because it helps to treat severe headaches known as meningitis which he described as deadly compared to HIV/AIDS.

On other issues, Dr Mashala sensitized the people about the outbreak of Ebola and encouraged them to read more about the disease in order to gain more information so that they can heed the call from the ministry of health by exercising precaution measures to save lives.

For his part, landboard Secretary Mr Godiramang Moepeng said healthy living is vital in everyday life especially in the workplace. 

He said healthy employees are bound to produce better performance in their workplaces.

Furthermore, he said the opening day allows their respective office to bring services closer to the communities that they serve.

Stakeholders that graced the opening include Standard Charted bank, Botswana Housing Corporation, NBIFRA, First National Bank, and Botswana Post.

The day was held under the theme “Healthy workforce, key to sustainable human settlements”. ENDS