11 Oct 2022

Walking and healthy eating can help defeat non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which are the cause of 46 per cent of deaths in Botswana.

Speaking, Sunday, during an activation event for the Walk for Life campaign in Kanye, Minister of Health, Dr Edwin Dikoloti, said a good number of Batswana did not exercise, therefore they were at a high risk of NCDs.

Therefore, he said the five-day campaign, which would end in Gaborone on Saturday, was meant to sensitise the nation about NCDs and how to tackle them.

“Research has also highlighted that 95 per cent of Batswana did not eat healthy foods, while 31 per cent were obese. It is important to exercise regularly and eat healthy foods as that will keep the mind, heart and the general body healthy,” he said.

Dr Dikoloti said NCDs led to around 41 million deaths annually, which translated to 74 per cent of deaths globally.

“These diseases continue to increase especially in low and middle-income countries, which means one person dies every two seconds in the world,” he added.

A lot of people, he said, died before the age of  70 in low and middle-income countries due to non-communicable diseases.

Permanent Secretary in the health ministry, Ms Grace Muzila, underscored the need to walk from time to time.

“These diseases could be stopped. We need to understand what causes them and what to be done to curb them,” she said.

Ms Muzila said her ministry could not win the fight against NCDs alone, hence her plea to the nation to follow necessary steps of healthy life.

She advised event attendees to pass the message to others, noting the walk should be a start for all to keep the essence of exercising.

Southern District Council chairperson, Mr Thamiso Chabalala, highlighted the need to be aware of everything taken into the body adding, ‘whatever we take into the body eventually shows results.’

He encouraged all to use the campaign as a platform to start healthy living by exercising daily.

For his part, Southern DHMT coordinator, Mr Conrad Ntsuape, said they would be engaging the general public and providing different services such as screening for various diseases and vaccinating for COVID-19 in all the areas they passed through from Kanye to Gaborone.

World Health Organisation (WHO) representative, Dr Josephine Namboze said all should understand their bodies.

“We need to fully investigate any symptoms immediately so that if any diseases were detected they could be attended to as soon as possible,” she said.

She stressed the need to eat more vegetables and cut the intake of red meat.

The team spent its first night of the walk in Moshupa where upon arrival they had similar talks and activities conducted in Kanye. 

They continued the walk to Thamaga yesterday morning.

In Moshupa, the Assistant Minister of Health, Mr Setlhomo Lelatisitswe, said government was using a lot of money to treat NCDs, but that cost be avoided by leading healthy lives. 

He said some of the medicines used in treating NCDs had side effects.

“In the past, there were few of these diseases because of the lifestyles such as walking and eating healthy foods,” he said.

He urged Batswana to revive the spirit of walking rather than driving.

Mr Lelatisitswe applauded all those who took part in the walk, noting that they were not doing anyone a favour, but themselves. Ends