Non-communicable diseases continue to rise in Rwanda and are now the leading cause of death, accounting for 49.5% of all fatalities, according to the National Institute of Statistics, yet many Rwandans still say they see no reason to get screened as long as they feel fine, or say they simply don’t have the time.
Diabetes, high blood pressure, and other non-communicable diseases continue to affect a growing number of people. NISR recently reported that deaths from these conditions have surged from 27.9% in 2012 to 49.5% today. Late detection is one of the biggest factors driving up the death toll, since by the time symptoms appear, the disease has often already done serious damage.
At around 11am, we visited Kagugu Health Center in Gasabo District, Kigali.
There we found Appoline Mukeshimana and Raphael Dusabemungu, who had come in for unrelated complaints, only to be caught off guard by their diagnoses, diabetes for one, high blood pressure for the other. Both said the same thing: it had never crossed their minds to get screened, because they didn’t feel like anything was wrong.
“Yesterday I was doing laundry and started seeing spots in front of my eyes, so I went straight to the doctor the next morning, and that’s when they found the diabetes. I never went for a screening before because I always felt fine. Turns out I wasn’t,” Mukeshimana said.
Dusabemungu, diagnosed with high blood pressure, said: “I came in for a routine check-up, and I was caught off guard when they found I had high blood pressure. I never used to bother with screening because I felt nothing was wrong, for us, you only believe someone is sick once they’re bedridden.”
Gaspard Hakizimana and Eric Byiringiro, also at the clinic that day, said that even though they’re aware of how dangerous these diseases are, they simply don’t make time for screening if they feel healthy.
“I know these diseases exist, but I wouldn’t just get up and go to the doctor to get screened, finding the time isn’t easy either. People are busy chasing a living, so I don’t go to the doctor if I don’t feel sick,” Gaspard said.
Byiringiro added: “The reason I don’t get screened is that I’m always busy with work. If I had the time, I’d go, but since I don’t, I just don’t, even though I know how serious these diseases can be.”
Kagugu Health Center’s director, Tresor Dogo, said people need to rethink their attitude toward screening, since catching these diseases early gives patients a real chance at treatment and recovery.
“These diseases aren’t just for the wealthy, and they’re not just for older people either, like people tend to assume. Right now at our health center alone, we’re following up with 216 people with high blood pressure and 88 with diabetes, and these patients span every age group, all of them are between 25 and 80 years old.”
“What we’re urging people to do is go get screened, because when these diseases are caught early, a patient can be monitored and treated in time, and it doesn’t have to be fatal,” he said.
The Ministry of Health reports that 16.8% of Rwandans currently have high blood pressure, and 2.9% have diabetes. This comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that non-communicable diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, and respiratory illness, claim 17 million lives worldwide each year among people under 70. That amounts to one death every two seconds, with 85% of those deaths occurring in developing countries.
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