State Minister of Health for General Duties, Robinah Nabbanja, has blamed unhealthy lifestyles for the prevalent non communicable disease burden in Bunyoro and Uganda in general.
Ms Nabbanja says people are developing such non communicable diseases as diabetes, most heart diseases and most cancers among others due to unhealthy diets, tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol and physical inactivity.
According to international health experts, too much a consumption of sugary drinks and processed foods including most fruit juices, cakes and potato chips among others is unhealthy to people.
It is against this backdrop that government through the Ministry of Health has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom to fight both non communicable and communicable diseases in the region.
Ms Nabbanja says diseases like malaria and Tuberculosis among other communicable ones need to be fought for the country to have a healthy citizenry.
Dr Diana Atwine, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, says Bunyoro is among the regions with the highest mortality rate resulting from unhealthy lifestyles.
She urges Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom candle bearers to always organise cultural activities and also hold radio talk shows mobilising, educating and sensitising kingdom subjects about healthy lifestyles to reduce the number of people developing and dying from non communicable diseases.
The Permanent Secretary also says the MoU transcends non communicable diseases to communicable ones like HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, illnesses caused by poor sanitation and also maternal deaths with emphasis on how the two joint institutions can educate people about their transmission, prevention and control.
Ms Atwine is also hopeful that the partnership between the government and the kingdom will be fruitful since kingdom officials will effectively spread the information to the kingdom subjects with whom they live.
The kingdom premier, Andrew Kirungi Byakutaaga, observes that with the signed MoU, there will be a reduction in unhealthy lifestyle diseases claiming the lives of the people in Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom saying prosperity comes when people are healthy.
The MoU was signed at Hoima Resort Hotel.
Health facilities in Bunyoro region
One Referral Hospital
14 General Hospitals
42 Clinics
286 Health Centre 2s
2,189 Health Centre 3s
Figures
Last year’s statistics indicate that in Bunyoro region, health workers in Kagadi district stand at 34% with a lack of 66% of staff members, Buliisa district health workers stand at 39.9% lacking 69.1% staff members while Kiryandongo district has 61.5% health workers with a lack of 39.5% staff members and Hoima district has 62.5% of health workers lacking 37.5%.
Kakumiro district has 85.8% of health workers lacking 14.2% staff members, Kikuube district has 30.9% of health workers with a lack of 70.1% staff members while Masindi district is at 45.9% of health workers lacking 54.1% staff members.
Ministry of Health guidelines
Each sub-county must have a health centre 3 with a maternity ward, clinical officers and nurses; each constituency must have a health centre 4 with doctors and wards.
