You know them by heart because you are or know someone who is directly affected by them. Lifestyle diseases are deadly in their very nature and are taking more and more lives than they did previously.
According to WHO, each year, about 40 million people die worldwide as a result of lifestyle diseases also commonly referred to as non-communicable diseases.
Diseases such as high blood pressure and cancer are now the leading cause of death in Kenya, a trend that continues to strain the already stretched healthcare system.
Lifestyle diseases are wide ranging.
They include, cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
WHO calls it a ‘”slow-moving public health disaster’’ that is no longer limited to the developed world as more and more African countries grapple with the menace.
The rise and rise of these diseases has been blamed on four factors;
economic transition, urbanisation, unhealthy diets, modern lifestyle
One of the recommended ways of countering lifestyle diseases is ‘getting moving’. Exercise according to Dr Eric Kimani Njenga is a consulting physician and Diabetologist.
