THE WAR AGAINST NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASE: HOW READY IS NIGERIA?

Globally, human development in the varying spheres of life has birthed several consequences that has caused nutritional, demographic and epidemiological transition which has significant impact on population health.1 This public health challenge particularly impacts Africa where it affects the population by causing chronic, noninfectious diseases not hitherto observed in this region. This chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) includes hypertension, stroke, coronary heart disease in addition to diabetes just to mention a few.2 These highlighted diseases in addition to the traditional scourge of infectious diseases has placed a double burden of disease on an otherwise poorly funded health care system in Africa.3 This write up intends to stimulate awareness about the burden of NCDs in Nigeria while looking at the readiness of the national health system to control and treat non-communicable diseases