Fighting non-communicable diseases in East Africa: assessing progress and identifying the next steps

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa has seen a rapid increase in non-communicable disease (NCD) burden over the last decades. The East African Community (EAC) comprises Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan and Uganda, with a population of 177 million. In those countries, 40% of deaths in 2015 were attributable to NCDs. We review the status of the NCD response in the countries of the EAC based on the available monitoring tools, the WHO NCD progress monitors in 2017 and 2020 and the East African NCD Alliance benchmark survey in 2017. In the EAC, modest progress in governance, prevention of risk factors, monitoring, surveillance and evaluation of health systems can be observed. Many policies exist on paper, implementation and healthcare are weak and there are large regional and subnational differences. Enhanced efforts by regional and national policy-makers, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders are needed to ensure future NCD policies and implementation improvements.

Keywords: control strategies; health policy; other study design; public Health.

Figure 1

Percentage of all deaths attributable to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in countries of the East African Community (data from the WHO NCD progress monitors 2017 and 2020).

Figure 2

Trends in percentage of all deaths attributable to category of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in countries of the East African Community (2000–2016).