The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Papua New Guinea has launched the Save 10,000 Toes campaign in a bid to reduce Type 2 diabetes cases and other lifestyle diseases in the country by 2030.
The campaign is an initiative of the church’s health ministries, which will involve the church membership in fighting against non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in partnership with health workers within the government and other stakeholders.
The campaign was launched at the church’s head office in Lae on Wednesday, March 23rd, by the Morobe Provincial Health Authority chief executive officer, Dr Kipas Binga.
The event was witnessed by the Honorary Consul to New Zealand, Zoe Harrison, and Consul General for the Australian Consulate, Mark Foxe.
Dr Binga said the Save 10,000s Toes campaign was timely as lifestyle diseases were on the rise and the initiative would help the Morobe Provincial Health Authority, which is working on its corporate plan to address the rise of lifestyle diseases and other health issues.
“We have the challenge of communicable and non-communicable diseases. HIV and TB have not truly disappeared,” said Dr Binga.
“How do we find a balance on that and the lifestyle diseases that are coming up? We must learn to spend to keep people healthy.
“Diabetes is on the rise everywhere, including Morobe and other diseases, including cancer.
“We look forward to partnering with the church for the cause of our people. We must have clear pathways for patient referrals and I think we can do this together,” Dr Binga said.
Meanwhile, the New Zealand and Australian governments, through their representatives, pledged their support for the campaign.
Harrison said the campaign was a great initiative and the New Zealand government was looking forward to working with the church to achieve its goals.
Foxe also commended the church for its foresight in combating non-communicable diseases.
“We want to work together with you. We will look at how we can partner with you,” Foxe said.
The church’s health ministry director, Pr Zachary Lipen, said the campaign will be achieved by creating a Wellness Movement and creating a pathway for churches, regardless of denomination, to become “Wellness Centres” focusing on the concept of lifestyle medicine, training, equipping, engaging and empowering members of all other denominations in towns and villages with NCD intervention skills.
Some of the activities in this initiative include training ambassadors to lead the campaign, doing health assessments in villages and towns for blood pressure, blood sugar levels, conducting trainings on the health improvement programmes, running a stop smoking and health education programmes and a media campaign.