Kenya Red Cross boss Abbas Gullet. [Photo/the-star.co.ke]

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The  Kenya  Red  Cross  Society  (KRCS)  announces a partnership  with  Novartis,  a  global healthcare  company,  to improve  access to  prevention, treatment, and care of Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in Kenya. 

NCDs,  mainly  cardiovascular  diseases,  cancers,  chronic  respiratory diseases  and diabetes, represent a leading threat to human health and development. In Kenya, 27 per cent of deaths are due to NCDs.

 According  to  the  WHO’s  latest  global  status  report on  NCDs,  NCDs  are  the  world’s  biggest killers,  causing  an  estimated  38  million  deaths  in 2012,  with  nearly  three  quarters  of  these deaths  occurring  in  low and  middle-income  countries.

In  Kenya,  NCDs  account for  close  to  50 per  cent  of  inpatient  admissions  and  40  per  cent  of hospital  deaths,  dominating  healthcare budgets.  By  2030,  NCDs  are  expected to  contribute  to  approximately  60  per  cent  of  the  total national mortality. 

“Challenges  facing  NCD  prevention  and  control  at  both  the  national  and  county  government levels  include  investment  in  the  health  system  over the  years,  which  focused  mainly  on infectious diseases, resulting in great capacity to address infectious diseases as compared to the poor NCD infrastructure,” said Dr. Abbas Gullet, Secretary General, Kenya Red Cross Society. 

As  part  of  the  new  partnership  with  Novartis,  KRCS will  train  health  workers,  community volunteers and scale up screening at community and facility level for NCDs over the next three years.  KRCS  will  also  purchase  the  Novartis  Access portfolio  to  improve  access  to  NCD prevention, treatment, care and support. 

KRCS will also focus on thousands of refugees living in the Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps, as they are facing significant cases of diabetes, hypertension, cancer and asthma.

In 2013, there were  about  27,000  medical  consultations  for  NCDs  in

Dadaab,  representing  3  per  cent  of consultations, with 43 per cent being for cardiovas

cular disease. 

The  support  will  ensure  affordable  medicine  to  the Level  Five  hospital  in  the  IFO2  camp managed by KRCS. Currently, KRCS supports and follows up 151 patients living with NCDs.