Global experts root for NCD prevention strategies
NCD Alliance president Monika Arora agreed: “We know well that prevention is the answer for turning the tide on NCD”.
The chairperson Rwanda NCD Alliance Professor Joseph Mucumbitsi addressing delegates during the ongoing Forum. (Credit: Agnes Kyotalengerire)
NewVision Reporter
@NewVision
KIGALI - Global experts have called for investing in non-communicable disease prevention to curb the growing burden.
Rwanda NCD Alliance chairperson Prof. Joseph Mucumbitsi says governments must make difficult but necessary investments in prevention: “The evidence is clear: prevention pays off". Mucumbitsi is also the outgoing President of the East Africa NCD Alliance.
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are set to overtake infectious, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional (CMNN) diseases combined as the leading cause of mortality in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.
NCDs, also known as chronic diseases, tend to be of long duration and are the result of a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental and behavioural factors. 
The President Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Alliance, Monika Arora, addresses delegates at the ongoing NCD Forum. (Credit: Agnes Kyotalengerire)
NCD Alliance president Monika Arora agreed: “We know well that prevention is the answer for turning the tide on NCD”.
She further noted that strong inroads have been made towards creating healthier environments and reducing the risk factors. For instance, more countries today have legislation in place to tax unhealthy products, restrict marketing and improve front-of-pack labelling, than five years ago.
Yet still, the prevalence of the risk factors remains stubbornly high, and the world is on a collision course to miss the 2025 risk factor targets.
She said there is an urgent need for political leadership and financing to rapidly scale implementation.
NCD Alliance CEO Katie Dain said we live in an era of poly-crisis, with pandemics, climate change, conflicts and humanitarian crises locking horns across the globe. “At the centre of this storm are people living with NCDs” Dain noted.
Delegates during the ongoing NCD Forum at the Conventional Center in Kigali Rwanda. (Credit: Agnes Kyotalengerire)
Mucumbitsi highlighted that in the past three decades, there has been a surge of harmful tobacco and alcohol use, a shift to unhealthy diets, increasingly sedentary lifestyles and air pollution across the region.
The kind of risk factors that stem from policies beyond the health sector—agriculture, trade and transportation.
The remarks were made during the opening of the 4th Global NCD Alliance Forum at the Conventional Center in Kigali, Rwanda on February 13, 2025.
This is the first edition of the event to be held in sub-Saharan Africa under the theme: Leadership on NCDs towards 2025 & beyond. The three-day forum has attracted over 700 advocates, experts and ministerial representatives from over 66 countries working in NCD prevention and care.
The Forum is a key global health event in the lead-up to the 4th United Nations High-Level Meeting on NCDs taking place in New York in September.
The groundbreaking event is co-hosted by the NCD Alliance and Rwanda NCD Alliance, in collaboration with the Rwanda Ministry of Health and the Rwanda Biomedical Centre.
The burden
The World Health Organisation says NCDs killed at least 43 million people in 2021, equivalent to 75% of non-pandemic-related deaths globally. NCDs, include cancer, heart diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, and also mental health conditions for example depression and anxiety.
The number of people living with NCDs dwarfs that of many other health issues combined and is likely to be just the tip of the iceberg.
One billion people are living with obesity, about 1.3 billion with hypertension, a billion living with a mental health disorder, and half a billion people living with diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases.
The chairperson Rwanda NCD Alliance Professor Joseph Mucumbitsi with Katie Dain, the CEO of the NCD Alliance during the Forum.
Cases in Africa
Cardiovascular diseases account for 13% of all deaths and 37% of NCD-related deaths in Africa.
In 2020, approximately one million new cancer cases and 700,000 deaths were reported in Africa.
Africa represents 7% of global cancer incidence but suffers from 7% of global cancer deaths, with rates projected to exceed the global average by 30% in the next 20 years.
Common cancers among adults include breast cancer (16.5%) and cervical cancer (13.1%).
Diabetes
The number of people living with diabetes rose to 24 million in 2021, with projections of 55 million by 2045, reflecting a 129% increase.
Sickle cell disease
Annually, 300,000 to 400,000 newborns are diagnosed with Sickle Cell Disease globally, with 75% of these births occurring in Africa.