Accra, Ghana - KASI insight, an award-winning research and advisory firm that provides reliable data and actionable insights from Africa, today announced the launch of the FiT Score (Nigeria), Africa's first health and wellness index. According to the World Health Organization, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) will kill more than 40 million people per year by 2020 with an increasing proportion of the deaths in Africa. NCDs are the result of a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental and behavioral factors. The main types of NCDs are cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory disease, and diabetes. Modifiable lifestyle behaviours, such as tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet and the harmful use of alcohol, all increase the risk of NCDs.
“With the rise of middle class and increased urbanization, Africa will face new health challenges especially around noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases and high blood pressure. The WHO estimated that 4 million people will die from NCDs related diseases in Africa by 2020. The FiT score provides data and intelligence regarding lifestyle behaviors and the prevalence of risk factors for NCDs.” said Rhonda Boateng, Health researcher and co-lead health advisory group at KASI Insight.
"Overall, the report is wonderful and insightful particularly with regard to the growing impact of NCDs in Africa and the relative financial constraints in the continent to fund the usually long haul of management of these class of diseases." said Dr Ezekwesili Udemezue Samuel from Nigeria.
Prepared and released every semester, the FiT Score covers each country's results. Detailed country analysis and data will be available upon request.
KEY FINDINGS (NIGERIA)
Amongst the 7 (Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Tanzania and Cameroon) countries, Ghana ranks first with a score of 64 and Cameroon ranks last with a score of 46.
On rating their health, 40 percent of respondents rank their health as excellent but 23 percent expect their health to get much worse.
On unhealthy habits, 26 percent of respondents smoke at least one cigarette per day, 38 percent consume alcoholic drinks (mostly once per month) and 2 percent consumer between 6 to 9 alcoholic drinks per day.
On healthy habits, only 5 percent of respondents get the recommended fruit servings per day (4 + servings), 5.1 percent eat the recommended vegetable servings per day and 1/3 of respondents exercise moderately at least 4 days per week.
On medical care, 69 percent of respondents had a doctor visit and recommended medical tests over the past 6 months and most popular medical tests are Diabetes, Blood pressure and Blood.
As a leading provider of consumer insights and related data products for emerging markets especially Africa, KASI Insight is dedicated to the ongoing development of insights into the health of Africans, and how the right lifestyle choices can prevent or reduce the severity and the impact of illness and disease. The FiT score provides supplementary evidence to help inform public health policy.
The first KASI Health Wellness index is based on findings of a KASI Insight survey conducted between February 17th and 27th, 2017. A sample of 3,500 urban dwellers in Africa from 18 to 65 years of age. After data cleaning and validation, the final sample was 3,369.
TO VIEW THE NIGERIA REPORT, CLICK HERE.
----
About KASI Insights Health Advisory
The health advisory group provides research, insights and consulting in the healthcare and wellness sectors in Africa. The initial focus of the advisory team is noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). For more information, go to https://www.kasiinsight.com/health.
Contact our team today to explore how our consumer intelligence and brand intelligence can empower your decision-making process. Win with confidence with Kasi insights https://www.kasiinsight.com/thehub
Attention to: Rhonda Boateng (KASI Health Advisory)
Email: health@kasiinsight.com