Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Address for correspondence: M. Email: ms23 sanger. With the changing distribution of infectious diseases, and an increase in the burden of non-communicable diseases, low- and middle-income countries, including those in Africa, will need to expand their health care capacities to effectively respond to these epidemiological transitions.
The interrelated risk factors for chronic infectious and non-communicable diseases and the need for long-term disease management, argue for combined strategies to understand their underlying causes and to design strategies for effective prevention and long-term care. Through multidisciplinary research and implementation partnerships, we advocate an integrated approach for research and healthcare for chronic diseases in Africa. Key words: Africa, chronic disease, health systems, implementation, integration, intervention, low and middle income countries, non-communicable disease, partnerships, research, surveillance, technology, infectious disease.
Chronic NCDs such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases CVD , and cancers are emerging as leading causes of mortality and morbidity in Africa. In this region, with a population of around 1. It is anticipated that in sub-Saharan Africa SSA alone, the number of people living with the disease will rise to Similarly, in , a projected 1.
This figure is expected to rise by another 1 million by [ 3 ]. Cancer-related deaths are also anticipated to double to 1. Thus, NCDs already present a major health burden for the African continent and are expected to be the most common cause of death, exceeding the number of deaths from communicable, maternal, perinatal, and nutritional diseases combined, by [ 5 ]. Because of the diverse social, environmental, and biological settings within Africa, the distributions of known and other potentially novel risk factors, and their determinants, are likely to differ from those of European populations or those of African descent living outside Africa [ 6 ].
The higher incidence of certain cancers, such as liver, cervical and oesophageal, in Africa compared with high-income countries HICs may reflect underlying differences in their risk factors in these regions [ 7 ]. Population growth and the concomitant rise in life expectancy are likely to only partly explain the increase in NCDs. However, the distribution and relative contribution of these risk factors to the burden of NCDs in Africa are unclear.
