The Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance of Guatemala validated the lines of its strategy to prevent and address noncommunicable chronic diseases between 2027 and 2037, with actions aimed at containing diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, and obesity over the next decade.
The process brought together departments of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance (MSPAS) with representatives from the health, education, food security and nutrition sectors. Their contributions will be incorporated into the final document before it is published.
The strategy seeks to organize the health system's response to conditions that share risk factors and require coordinated care. The objective includes preventing cases, improving care for those already diagnosed, and strengthening control of these diseases.
Four diseases linked by common risk factors
Diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, and obesity were addressed jointly during the validation workshop. Specialists identified tobacco use, inadequate diet, and lack of physical activity as the main determinants that promote the onset and progression of these conditions in the Guatemalan population.
The coordinator of the MSPAS Renal Health Program, Randall Lou Meda, raised the need to have a tool that allows addressing the set of diseases. The e…
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Several participants attend a working session in a room decorated with flags of Central America. (Illustrative image Infobae)
Guatemala's Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance validated the lines of its strategy to prevent and address noncommunicable chronic diseases between 2027 and 2037, with actions aimed at containing diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, and obesity over the next decade. The process brought together units of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance (MSPAS) with representatives from the health, education, food security, and nutrition sectors. Their contributions will be incorporated into the final document before it is published.
The strategy seeks to organize the health system's response to conditions that share risk factors and require coordinated care. The objective includes preventing cases, improving care for those already diagnosed, and strengthening the control of these diseases.
An infographic details the strategy of Guatemala's Ministry of Health to address diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and kidney disease between 2027 and 2037. (Illustrative image Infobae)
Diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, and obesity were addressed jointly during the validation workshop. Specialists identified tobacco use, inadequate diet, and lack of physical activity as the main determinants that favor the onset and progression of these conditions in the Guatemalan population.
The coordinator of the Renal Health Program at MSPAS, Randall Lou Meda, raised the need for a tool that allows addressing the set of diseases. The specialist stated: "We need to develop a strategy that helps us cover this range of diseases and eventually also make it possible for us to stop the progression of this disease."
The planned interventions must be cost-effective, validated, and able to be applied on a national scale. The proposal contemplates the participation of governmental and social sectors to contribute to the prevention, care, and control of chronic diseases, in addition to promoting healthier environments.
The validation of the document constitutes an intermediate stage before the definition of the health policy that will guide the approach to these conditions until 2037. The MSPAS did not specify a date for the final publication, while consultations with the sectors involved continue.
The advisor for noncommunicable diseases, risk factors, and mental health at the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) in Guatemala, Ingrid García, indicated that the selection of priority measures will strengthen four pillars of the health system: prevention, early detection, treatment, and disease control.
García maintained that the work will help reinforce the response of health services and improve the population's timely access to medical care. Early detection is among the central aspects for addressing diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and kidney damage before these conditions progress.
The technical support of PAHO/WHO adds to a mission carried out months earlier together with the MSPAS to improve primary care for noncommunicable diseases. That instance included the National Quality Workshop of the HEARTS initiative.
The meeting took place between May 25 and 28 and brought together technical teams from 25 Departmental Directorates of Integrated Health Service Networks. The activity laid part of the groundwork for the formulation of the long-term strategy that is now going through its validation phase.
During that mission, Minister Joaquín Barnoya emphasized the importance of strengthening a health model based on primary care and integrated service networks. That orientation coincides with the multisectoral approach proposed for the national strategy.
The director of the Department of Noncommunicable Diseases at PAHO, Anselm Hennis, had warned that gaps in prevention, detection, and timely access to treatment remain among the main challenges for health systems in the region.