Kenyans are set to receive free advice on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in all Goodlife Pharmacies across the country in a new campaign dubbed Wellness 360.
The campaign follows a partnership between Phillips Pharmaceutical and Goodlife Pharmacy, whose staff will get continuous training in non-communicable diseases to equip Kenyans on lifestyle modification interventions to help in reducing the burden of NCDs and promote healthy lifestyles.
“Of our 300 workforce we have so far trained about 100 and we will continue to keep training. We realized the first place any patient visits is a chemist, asking for a certain drug. That’s why we are equipping our workforce with the necessary information,”said Goodlife Pharmacy Head of Retail, David Kasonga.
The partnership is under the Phillips Top100 training programme that seeks to provide patient-related education to increase knowledge of NCDs among Kenyans.
“Under the collaboration, various experts from Clinical Nutritionist, medical experts and consultant pharmacists will provide continuous training and update tailored on patient centricity and advice on wellness and lifestyle modification,” said Phillips Pharmaceutical Chief Executive, Newton Siele
The move comes even as Covid-19 pandemic worsens with people who suffer from NCDs at greater risk. Ministry of Health data shows that NCDs accounted for over 50% of hospital admissions in Kenya. Moreover, 33% of Covid-19 related deaths suffered from diabetes and hypertension.
Latest statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO) also indicate that about a quarter of Kenyan Women aged 15 years and above are either underweight or obese.
In contrast, only 7% of men in the same age group suffer from the conditions with obesity increasing across at an alarming rate.
“Lifestyle modification is highly recommended as one of the interventions in reducing NCDs related complications. Kenyans can now walk in any of our pharmacies and get necessary advice especially on nutrition and healthy living,” said Goodlife CEO Amaan Khalfan.
The campaign will run for five months. Goodlife has about 65 branches in the region, reaching over 3 million people.
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