By Françios Kwatani

Renowned health rights activist George Jobe has called on government to adequately invest in raising awareness on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the country.

The remarks follow the recent statement by World Diabetes Foundation’s (WDF) NCDs Senior Programmes Manager Mads Loftager Mundt that about 50% of diabetes patients in the country are unaware of their condition which is due to poor service provision and lack of awareness on NCDs.

Jobe, who is also Malawi Health Equity Network (MHEN) executive director, told YFM Online that health sectors need to introduce early detection systems to check people periodically in order to treat them in time a development that will require investment.

“We have experienced sudden deaths whereby people just collapse or die in their sleep which means that there are many people suffering from NCDs but they are unaware of their condition,” Jobe said.

He also asked the Ministry of Health to deploy health workers into various communities in the country to be screening NCDs on citizens.

He further called for various stakeholders to financially support health sectors in ensuring that there is adequate awareness on NCDs being spread throughout the country.