Non-communicable diseases and poverty project (2000-2001)

Saturday 27 December 2008, by Webmaster

The burden of many non-communicable diseases (NCD), particularly cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and lung cancer, tends to increase with economic development. However, in wealthier countries, the greatest burden of NCD falls on the poor. Who is most at risk from NCD in developing countries - the rich or the poor?

This pilot study used standardized methods to assess a range of NCD risk factors including blood pressure, height, weight, waist and hip circumferences, physical activity, alcohol intake, tobacco smoking (people aged 15 years old and over) and fasting blood glucose (a subset of people aged 35 years and above) and related them to measures of poverty and personal, household, and socio-economic status. The incidence of diagnosed high blood pressure and diabetes and the level of care that patients have received were recorded.

There were 2268 households included in the survey with a total population of 8340 (response rate 87.5%) of which 5102 (2832 females and 2270 males) were above 15 years of age. One hundred and twenty four people were known to have high blood pressure while 26 had diabetes. Five hundred and thirty subjects (234 females and 301 males) had high blood pressure.

The results show a complex picture. Some risk factors are more prevalent in the poor or illiterate and those with little education, and for others the reverse is true. For example:

Illiterate women tended to have high waist, hip, body mass index (a measure of obesity), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) and blood glucose while their male counterparts had only high WHR, blood pressure and blood glucose even after adjustment for age.

Systolic blood pressure was higher in those with a low occupational class in both sexes. Alcohol consumption was higher in both sexes with the poorest quintiles of household amenities scores, lowest education level and a low occupational class. These relationships were confirmed after adjustment for age and the other two socio-economic indicators.

Smoking was strongly associated with illiteracy and poorest quintile of household amenities in men.

People with the lowest socio-economic indicators (illiterate for education, low class for occupation, and poorest household amenities quintiles scores) tended to consume less fruits and vegetables

These data defy simplistic notions of NCD and its risk factors being diseases of affluence. They suggest that NCD risk factors in urban Cameroon at least exist across the spectrum of socio economic status and indeed for some are highest in the poorest members of the community. There is a unique opportunity here to follow the evolution of NCD and its risk factors in this developing community at the onset of economic development.

Cameroon has no national health insurance policy and therefore patients with chronic diseases have to pay for all their medications that are very expensive. It is therefore important that we look for alternative and cheap drugs for managing these chronic diseases. The group is also involved in ethnopharmacological and basic science research through the participation of Drs Njamen and Mbanya. The section below outlines our progress in this field.

• Ethnopharmacology and Molecular Biology of Diabetes Mellitus
  The identification, evaluation and recognition of the value of traditional therapy for non-communicable diseases in Cameroon is being (...)
• Non-communicable diseases and poverty project (2000-2001)
  The burden of many non-communicable diseases (NCD), particularly cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and lung cancer, tends to increase with (...)
• Action on Non-communicable Diseases in sub-Sahara Africa (ANSA)
  This is an ongoing project in which we are using the same sites like those of CENHIP. The two goals of ANSA are: to develop, evaluate, (...)
• Cameroon Essential Non-communicable Diseases Health Intervention Project (CENHIP)
  This project was concerned with the improvement of health care, in particular the development of practical treatment guidelines, and the (...)
• The European Union Nutritional Project
  The study on nutritional influences on the emergence of hypertension and diabetes in Afro-populations of Cameroon, Jamaica, Paris, France and (...)