Rwanda is going to mobilize 699.1 million USD funding from different sources to reduce non-communicable diseases under a five-year strategic plan unveiled on Monday.
The plan, which covers a period from 2020 to 2025, aims to ensure that, by 2025, premature death linked to non-communicable diseases is reduced by 25 percent, Rwandan Minister of Health Daniel Ngamije said at the World Health Summit being held online on Oct. 25-27.
The plan will directly benefit 4.8 million people through prevention and treatment, said Ngamije.
The key interventions highlighted in the strategic plan include scaling up community engagement on non-communicable diseases, prevention and control of risk factors, and improvement of diagnosis and treatment.
“Some countries are currently on track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.4 to significantly reduce premature mortality for both men and women from non-communicable diseases by 2030,” he said.
“I am convinced that the current Rwanda strategic plan for the next five years would allow us to make a big step forward,” said the minister.
Noting that more than 70 percent of all COVID-19 related deaths are due to non-communicable diseases, the minister revealed that 90 percent of Rwanda’s total 34 death cases caused by COVID-19 were linked with non-communicable diseases comorbidities.
“If we prevent, reduce and treat non-communicable diseases now, we can reduce COVID-19 deaths,” he said.
