Media statements

South Africans are dying too early of chronic diseases - and most of these are preventable

More than half of South Africans currently dying of chronic diseases are doing so before the age of 65. This is negatively impacting the economy, as these diseases are killing our skilled and experienced labour force. Lifestyle changes such as consuming a healthy diet, exercising regularly and quitting smoking, as well as early diagnosis and treatment of hypertension, diabetes and high blood cholesterol, can postpone most of these premature deaths by many, many years - ensuring a healthy and active old age.

These are some of the many startling revelations in the newly released report from the South African Medical Research Council (MRC), called Chronic Diseases of Lifestyle in South Africa: 1995-2005.  

Another revelation in the report is that, in the year 2000, chronic diseases killed 565 people per day. This is expected, according to actuarial models, to rise to 666 people per day by 2010 in South Africa - despite the effects of the AIDS epidemic.

Prof Krisela Steyn, director of the MRC's Chronic Diseases of Lifestyle Research Unit, says that the report shows that the majority of the South African population has moved towards a disease profile related to an unhealthy Western lifestyle.  The report suggests that there are about 6 million South Africans with hypertension, 5 million with high blood cholesterol, 1.5 million with diabetes and more than 7 million smokers. Although smoking rates have decreased since excellent tobacco control legislation and policies have been implemented, hypertension, diabetes and other chronic conditions are poorly diagnosed and controlled. Lifestyle related cancers have also been increasing in the country 

In addition to the well-known risk factors for chronic diseases, the degree of urbanisation was also found to be an independent predictor of patients having hypertension or diabetes. This is worrying, as so many South Africans are moving to urban environments.

The report starkly highlights the need for proper health care in South Africa for people with chronic diseases of lifestyle, particularly at primary care level, in order to diagnose South Africans with chronic diseases and their risk factors early and to treat them effectively.

"The demands of health care in South Africa are extremely complex. The acute diseases of poverty, which are related to infections and maternal diseases, as well as high rates of trauma, still contribute significantly to the overall burden of disease in particularly the poorer sector of the South African population, as do the epidemic proportions of HIV/AIDS," she says. 

"Chronic disease care uses different management modalities than those required for acute care. Chronic care usually lasts the rest of a patient's life and requires a well-informed patient that sees themselves as active participants in their own care.

"The problem with developing countries such as South Africa is that such a complex health care system has to be provided in a country with extremely limited resources. Even highly sophisticated Western countries with more resources available for health care are not called upon to provide equally for both acute and chronic conditions - their focus is largely on chronic conditions," says Prof Steyn.

The report acknowledges that much has been achieved in the last decade to formulate the needs of chronic disease care in developing countries by international agencies such as the World Health Organisation. "However, very little international research and policy activities have addressed the taxing question of how poorer developing countries, with multiple burdens of disease, can address both acute and chronic conditions," says Prof Steyn.