No more disease silos for sub-Saharan Africa

While much of the health focus in sub-Saharan Africa, has been directed at communicable diseases (particularly HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria), non-communicable diseases are a growing problem for the region, causing almost one third of total deaths.1 The May 2012 World Health Assembly resolution on setting a global target for reducing non-communicable diseases2 and the pronouncements made at the 19th International AIDS Conference in July remind us of the similar challenges faced by these two sets of disease and the potential shared solutions. The theme of the AIDS conference “turning the tide together” seems apt and should give pause for thought in the lead-up to further debate about non-communicable diseases at the UN and other international forums.

The approach to preventing and treating HIV/AIDS—exemplified by an intention to build on lessons learnt, take account of recent scientific advances, and demonstrable ability to scale-up key interventions—seems particularly relevant to non-communicable diseases. But how should sub-Saharan Africa, well represented at the AIDS conference, gear up to the challenge of non-communicable diseases in a way that avoids creating new vertical programmes in competition for scarce resources?