31 Oct 2022

Poor eating habits, lack of physical activity, are said to be preludes to non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Officiating at the annual stiletto walk in Gaborone on Saturday, Leading Urge Markets Strategy Corporate Manager, Mr Modise Gokatweng said majority of Batswana were too casual about healthy eating.

Mr Gokatweng noted that most people consumed unhealthy foods, thinking that was the way to go while they were, in actual fact, endangering their lives and risking  NCDs, including cancer.

“It is not a status symbol to have a big stomach and it certainly does not show that one is rich” he said, adding that most did not eat fruits and vegetables as recommended.

He therefore urged people to eat healthy, (reduce salt, sugar, excess fat) and thus not predispose themselves to NCDs.

Mr Gokatweng also recommended eating small proportions, adding that having meatless days could help cut risks associated with unhealthy eating.

He also observed that Batswana were generally not physically active people, which resulted in many being overweight or obese, one of the key risk factors for many NCDs, including coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, certain types of cancer, diabetes, osteoarthritis, gout and sleep disorder.

He said as many people sat in offices the whole day, physical exercise for 30 minutes per day would make a difference.

Mr Gokatweng appealed to the nation to make keeping healthy part of their day to day living.

Giving a testimony, a Breast Cancer survivor, Ms Betty Mbaembae said women could beat breast cancer by normalising breast self-examination once a month and to seek medical attention on time, if the need arose.

Reflecting on her battle with cancer, Ms Mbaembae said she was diagnosed with stage three B breast cancer in 2017, after seeing a brown stain on her bra around November 2016.

She said she initially mistook it for a food stain, but then she noticed the stain again the following day, though she was not sick or in any pain.

“I got in an anxiety period for almost two weeks with questions in my mind, as what could that be. I knew a bit about cancer, but still during that time I did not think it was. I however managed to gather the strength to go for medical attention,” she said.

She said her frequent visits to the hospital were not successful and in June 2017 she developed a painless lump that grew at alarming rate.

Ms Mbaembae said her visit back to the hospital with a lump took her to the Breast Clinic where she was then diagnosed,.

She therefore thanked the Botswana government, saying she did her mammogram at Princess Marina Hospital and government further paid for services she was offered at private hospitals such as radiotherapy.

She also talked of undergoing chemotherapy, an expensive procedure for free, and eventually having a mastectomy, where her whole breast was removed.

Ms Mbaembae therefore encouraged women to regularly do breast self-examination, which she said improved chances of survival.

She also advised those diagnosed not to give up but adhere to doctors advice.

“More importantly, the power of healing is in the brain” she said, adding that one has to believe that they would get healed and work for their healing.

She encouraged women to choose life and health over anything else, adding that cancer was not a death sentence and that there was life after breast cancer.  ENDS