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editorial
. 2019 Dec;19(4):i–iv. doi: 10.4314/ahs.v19i4.1

NCD epidemic and sexual reproductive health issues in the infectious disease world

James K Tumwine
PMCID: PMC7040321  PMID: 32127905

The non-communicable diseases (NCDs) epidemic is now well established in sub-Sharan Africa with diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, injuries and cancer coming to the fore. In this December 2019 issue of African Health Sciences, we reflect the importance of NCDs with papers on diabetes mellitus1–5, and cardiovascular disease6–7. We have also highlighted the importance of exercise8–9 in the prevention and modulation of NCDs.

This year there has been a lot of talk on climate change, the environment and health. We have an interesting paper from Egypt10, that estimates the number of hospital admission respiratory cases attributed to S02 and NO2. Substance abuse is also a key issue affecting the health of our people. Muniu and others describe the determinants of harmful use of alcohol among adult urban slum dwellers in Kenya11, while Musamy and others describe corneal damage after the modern practice of vaping12.

The next few papers are on depression in pregnancy13, visual acuity testing in Ghana14 and use of a laryngeal mask in anaesthesia15.

Then we follow all these with sexual/reproductive health issues: sexual debut in South Africa16, sexual dysfunction among the mentally ill in Nigeria17 and high risk of human papilloma virus HPV among women with genital mutilation18. These issues continue with risk factors for dysmenorrhea among Ghanaian students19, treating menopausal flashes in Turkey20, perception of breast cancer in Ethiopia21, attitude of women to reproductive health issues22; and awareness of congenital toxoplasmosis in Tanzania23. We conclude this theme with papers on the impact of parity and other issues of hypertensive mothers on birthweight and mode of delivery24.

Now follows perinatal mortality25 and still births26 in Nigeria. What about child nutrition? It cannot be forgotten of course. Tanzanian authors describe infant diets27, while work from Nigeria highlights the importance of child malnutrition28 and management of cerebral palsy29. It's now time for workforce and education issues. Anyim and others have an interesting treatise on stress among medical health workers30, while Mbatha and others have researched core competencies for indigenous training of traditional health workers31. Medical error. What is it exactly? Mauti and others explore this subject32, while Callaghan muses over pseudoscience in medicine33.

Then we have several papers on anaesthesia34–36. Dentistry37 and HIV38–41 to spice this issue while the seminal paper on Peumocystis jirovecii42 is the jewel in the crown! Specific bacterial infections43–44 and schistosomiasis45 conclude this infectious disease section.

We end this editorial where we started: on non-communicable diseases; and in this case, on issues on cancer. Hence, we have papers on endometrial carcinoma46, Burkitt lymphoma47–48 and pleomorphic adenoma49.

Clearly as the debate on climate change and the environment enters a new gear, we need to be aware of the importance of the interplay between the environment and health, focusing on NCDs, infections and reproductive health issues.

References

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