Official statistics show that deaths due to HIV and AIDS has dropped by 50 per cent since 2010.
The tuberculosis death rate has also drastically gone down to unprecedented 14 cases per 100,000 people in 2020.
Non-communicable disease project for Malawi coordinator Samuel Kumwanje says integration of non-communicable diseases – NCDs into HIV prevention and care activities could help tame the alarming chronic disease burden currently prevailing.
Elsewhere in the world, Malaysia and Thailand have already integrated NCDs into HIV such that patients with NCDs are also tested for HIV.
NCDs are account for 32 to 40 percent of all deaths in Malawi with 10 percent each for cardiovascular conditions and cancer, two percent for chronic respiratory diseases, one percent for diabetes.
Kumwanje said financial resources for HIV and the NCD burden are declining hence the need to put them under one roof.
