A few days ago, I discussed the prevalence of hypertension in Lagos. However, hypertension isn't the only lifestyle disease on the rise. Across the continent, we are seeing an increase in a wide range of noncommunicable diseases, including diabetes, cancer, and heart and lung diseases. While there are many different causes of lifestyle diseases, physical inactivity, tobacco use, excessive alcohol consumption, and unhealthy diets are all big risk factors.

Here are a few ways our health systems should prepare.

Raise Awareness via Public Health Campaigns

Despite the increasing incidences of lifestyle diseases, public awareness about these diseases and how to prevent them remains low. Our health systems should initiate (or ramp up) public health campaigns to sensitize the general public and clinician communities on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of these diseases.

Restructure Primary Care

Our primary healthcare systems were historically designed to treat infectious diseases, like malaria and tuberculosis, and keep moms and babies healthy. While those remain important pillars of primary care, we now need to incorporate a lot more preventive health services into our primary care systems. Without robust prevention and screening tools, lifestyle diseases can go undiagnosed in the early stages, resulting in poorer health outcomes and more expensive overall treatment costs.

Create Better Access to Diagnostics and Treatment Options

Even with the best preventive care, not all lifestyle diseases can be avoided. In many cases, diagnosing lifestyle diseases requires access to capital-intensive diagnostics, such as x-ray, CT, ultrasound, and laboratory equipment. And some treatment options, like radiotherapy cancer treatment, require expensive equipment and care. Improving nationwide access to diagnostics can aid in early detection, while investment in specialized treatment centers can expand the options for those already diagnosed with noncommunicable diseases.