Zim govt continues to prioritise health issues including the NCDs: Mugabe

President Robert Mugabe has called on the international community to avail resources to the developing countries to make concrete commitments that are time-bound so as to ensure access to medicines, appropriate technology transfer and further training for health personnel on non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

President Mugabe was addressing world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly High level meeting on non-communicable diseases which opened at the UN headquarters in New York this Monday.

The High level meeting on non-communicable diseases is examining a document which outlines the first collective attempt by world leaders to provide a way forward in finding a solution to the non-communicable diseases epidemic which is claiming 60% of lives worldwide.

Mugabe expressed concern that the document in some instances tends to protect trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights at the expense of human lives and implored the world leaders to value human survival more than anything else.

He called upon the international partners to grant flexibilities that will allow pharmaceutical companies in countries of the south to manufacture generic drugs that treat non-communicable diseases just the same way as they did for HIV and AIDS drugs in the past few years.

The President noted that while the abuse of tobacco and alcohol in Zimbabwe and other developing countries exists to a limited extent, the main challenge in reducing NCDs is caused by poverty which restricts many families to a rigid and unbalanced diet.

Global food agencies such as the World Food Programme and Food and Agriculture Organisation have noted that many families in developing countries suffer from lack of balanced diet rendering them susceptible to NCDs.

Mugabe told the world leaders that the Zimbabwe government continues to prioritise health issues including the NCDs and to that end, the country has established a national mechanism to combat the non-communicable diseases through raising awareness and the magnitude of the scourge in Zimbabwe.

He also explained how Zimbabwe has put in place programmes for training of NCD health services personnel and that a second NCDs risk factor surveillance will be conducted next year to augment the country's data base on diseases.

The High level meeting on non-communicable diseases was officially opened by the UN Secretary-General Ban ki Moon and World Health Organisation Director-General, Margaret Chan who both spoke about the gravity of the NCDs epidemic which is killing 35 million people every year and is expected to kill a total of 350 million in the next decade.

Other world leaders will continue to take to the stage on the issue this Monday and Tuesday before the opening of the General Assembly debate on Wednesday.