Trends in the proportionate mortalities attributed to noncommunicable diseases in sub‐Saharan Africa for the period 2000 to 2016

Abstract

Summary Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) remain a growing global health issue and sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) is no exception. Using secondary data obtained from the World Bank on 48 SSA countries, we describe the trends in the proportionate mortalities attributed to NCDs in SSA between 2000 and 2016. The baseline proportionate mortalities attributed to NCDs in SSA increased from 22.49% in 2000 to 33.69% in 2016, representing about 11% increase. The trend was replicated across the low‐, middle‐, and high‐income countries in SSA. The highest change in the NCD mortalities in low‐income SSA countries was seen in Eritrea where NCD mortalities increased from 19.3% in the year 2000 to 45.2% in 2016. In Rwanda, it rose from 24.8% to 44% during the same period. Ghana, a lower‐middle‐income country, also witnessed an increase from 27.3% in 2000 to 42.7% in 2016. The general increasing trend in the burden of NCD mortalities in SSA implies the need for higher prioritization of NCD prevention and control initiatives. There is a need for a greater contribution of nontraditional stakeholders in health through a multi‐sectoral approach. We also recommend integrating NCD prevention and control strategies into existing public health structures being used for communicable disease control.

Non-HDL-C and LDL-C/HDL-C are associated with self-reported cardiovascular disease in a rural West African population: Analysis of an array of lipid metrics in an AWI-Gen sub-study

“…The novelty of this study is that it is the only analysis conducted in SSA of the association of commonly-used lipid metrics with CVD endpoints. This is important because it is known that CVD prevalence is increasing in this region [ 56 , 57 ] and globally, 80% of deaths related to CVD occur in low- and middle-income countries [ 2 ]. In addition, the INTERHEART study demonstrated that premature acute myocardial infarction occurred more often in countries within SSA than in any of the other 52 countries included in that study [ 58 ].…”