By Mbalenhle Mthethwa

That’s according to Deputy Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla, who was speaking in Pretoria, on the urgent need to avert deaths from preventable diseases.

Phaahla was joined by the World Health Organization during a dialogue intended to find lasting measures to curb the looming pandemic of non-communicable diseases. The Department of Health has warned that diabetes has become the second leading underlying cause of death in the country, and the leading cause among women.

Phaahla says lifestyle-related diseases are preventable through a healthy living campaign. He has urged South Africans to exercise regularly and to avoid the excessive consumption of alcohol and tobacco.

“The battle is far from over. We’ve made some progress and believe that in dealing with all of the NCDs I’ve mentioned diabetes cardiovascular, but we also know about malignancies on the significant rise we see a number of reports as many of you would be aware that just a few days ago we lost one of our colleagues in government, Pravin Gordhan, who also succumb to cancer,” says Phaahla.

Government has advised South Africans that early detection of non-communicable diseases is key.

--SABC--