The creation of both the center and the foundation is needed because of the severity of the double burden of disease that Africa carries today. Communicable diseases like malaria, cholera, and many others have classically saddled Africa with a heavy disease burden that continues to this day. This is aggravated by the HIV/AIDS epidemic that hit Africa in the late twentieth and early twenty-first ce
nturies. Today, that is compounded by the onslaught of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that are now striking Africa like a tidal wave. They include diseases like diabetes, obesity, hypertension, heart disease, and stroke. All of these are commonplace in the West, but were rare in Africa until the last few decades. They are beginning to strike hard in many countries in Africa, but they are ill-prepared to cope with these NCDs because their resources are still focused on the communicable diseases that remain major threats to health and well-being. Recognizing this problem, the Faculty of Health Sciences at Africa University is establishing a Center for Lifestyle Excellence as part of its program to promote health in Zimbabwe and throughout Africa. The first emphasis is on research to determine what lifestyle characteristics are prevalent today, and what approaches to strengthen healthy lifestyles will work best in Africa now and in the future. The second emphasis is on teaching students the principles of lifestyle excellence so they in turn can become teachers and models of healthy lifestyles in their own communities. The third emphasis is on community outreach, to teach the principles of healthy living in schools, churches, and other community organizations. "Over 10 years, the United States will spend $67 billion on its widely praised President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which changed the face of AIDS in Africa. But such efforts, focusing on one disease, have drawn attention away from emerging chronic diseases similar to those that are the top killers in the United States. — "The next health frontier: Chronic diseases in Africa," by Michelle Holmes and Shona Dalal, The Boston Globe, August 17, 2009 Major health organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the USA strongly advise teaching healthy lifestyles as the best answer to combating NCDs. Both WHO and the CDC state that 75 to 80 percent of many NCDs are preventable, and that healthy lifestyles are the way to do this. That's why Foundation for Healthy Living was established. It's underlying goal is to promote healthy living all across Africa. Vision Statement: We envision Centers of Lifestyle Excellence thriving across Africa, empowering people to live abundantly vibrant and joyous health! Mission Statements: Short-term (five years): To help Africa University establish the Africa Center for Lifestyle Excellence, enabling it to carry out research, education, and community outreach in promoting lifestyle excellence. Long-term (five to fifty years): To establish Centers of Lifestyle Excellence across Africa to help people learn to apply the principles of lifestyle excellence in their own communities. Acknowledgement
Jared Kihiu Njuguna of Kenya created the original art that appears in the header of this website an on our page. Learn more about him at Inside African Art: http://www.insideafricanart.com/Artists%20Main%20Pages/Jared_Njuguna.htm.
